ISLAMABAD - Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari yesterday expressed deep concern over the unprecedented rise in unemployment, as almost half of the country’s working-class have either lost their salaries or their jobs during the 32 months.

Bilawal said that shuffling Ministries and changing Ministers will not solve the problems of the country and the “only way out to safeguard the nation and its people was for (Prime Minister) Imran Khan to go home.”

In a statement, the PPP Chairman said that Prime Minister Imran Khan had claimed that 2020 would be ‘the year of jobs,’ but his government has only overseen mass unemployment.

PTI’s manifesto had promised to create 10 million jobs, but the youth are wandering the corners of Pakistan, degrees in hand, and the government has failed in creating employment, he added.

Bilawal said that no government in Pakistan’s history had such anti-employment policies as the current one. The minimum unemployment ratio during PPP government was 0.42 per cent, while under the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) it reached 4.08 per cent and under the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led government’s 32 months it had already increased to 4.45 per cent, he added.

Govt has fired thousands of employees from Radio Pakistan, PIA, Steel Mills:PPP

The PPP government had created employment for more than 6 million youths across the country and in return, the PPP leadership faced false and fabricated cases of corruption, he added.

Bilawal pointed out that Bangladesh, Vietnam, Ghana and even Myanmar were out-performing Pakistan in terms of the employment ratio. 

Instead of creating 10 million jobs, Imran Khan had instead  fired thousands of employees from Radio Pakistan, PIA, Steel Mills and the Sports Board, he said.

The PPP Chairman further said that Imran Khan had even been heartless enough to lay off workers during the lockdown caused by the coronavirus.

He said that government employees continued to protest for their rights in Islamabad and that instead of listening to their legitimate concerns, Imran Khan’s political police thrashed and threw them behind bars. 

He added that, government employees in Balochistan were fired for the crime of speaking up for their rights and that this was unforgivable. 

He pointed out that on the other hand the Sindh Government had not only increased the salaries of government employees but they were given added incentives during lockdown.

Bilawal also reminded the federal government of the announcements made after its formation in 2018. It had promised to spend Rs 18 billion in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with the aim of creating 98,000 jobs but that promise has not been fulfilled, he stated. 

Other PTI pledges to provide 300,000 jobs with the establishment of Economic Zones in Punjab and 16,000 with the construction of Diamer Bhasha Dam have not been fulfilled till date, he said.