PPP and PML-N reject two-day holiday proposal

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leaders have rejected a proposal for two weekend holidays, and warned that it could further damage the economy.

They criticised the current caretaker government, saying its duty was to hold election and not to take a decision, such as that, that could badly hit the economy - not to mention the adverse effects on daily wage earners alone.

PPP leaders Farzana Raja, Dr Hasnat Shah, Zakriya Butt, Samina Ghurki and Iqbal Sialvi said the economy was already suffering and this proposal would further aggravate the unemployment.

Their PML-N counterparts - Pervaiz Malik, Hamza Shahbaz, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and Khwaja Saad Rafique - said the people were facing wheat flour, power and gas shortages and rising unemployment, mainly because of the current government’s wrong policies. PML-N leader and NA-120 candidate Hamza Shahbaz said the caretakers came in to hold free, fair and transparent polls in the country and they should leave such decisions for the next government. His Finance Secretary, Pervaiz Malik, claimed that the social and political instability in Pakistan was the result of the dictatorship.

“People from Khyber to Karachi are protesting the rising prices, while the hoarders and black marketers are enjoying the government patronage,” he said. He then said the caretakers lacked interest in providing relief to the their countrymen, adding that the industry was already in a deep trouble and this decision could badly hurt small shopkeepers already facing a slump in their businesses.