Karachi: Pakistani lawmaker Syed Mustafa Kamal's recent remarks in the Sindh Parliament drawing parallels between India's achievements and the lack of basic facilities in the city of Karachi has grabbed attention on social media. In his fiery speech the Muttahida Quami Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) leader said that while India has reached the Moon, Karachi is making headlines when innocent children are dying in open gutters.
"Today, the condition in Karachi is that, while the world is going to the moon, children are dying by falling into the gutter in Karachi. On the same screen, there is news that India landed on the moon, and just after two seconds, the news is that a child died in an open gutter in Karachi," Kamal said in his address to the Parliament on Wednesday.
Kamal's remarks were in reference to India's successful Chandrayaan-3 lunar exploration mission when it made a significant stride in the global space race by becoming the fourth country to land its spacecraft on the Moon. India also became the first country to land on the south pole of the lunar surface.
Kamal further said that there was lack of adequate freshwater in the city and that 70 lakh children in Karachi and over 2.6 crore children in Pakistan are not able to go to the schools. "Karachi is the revenue engine of Pakistan. The two seaports operational in Pakistan since its inception, are both in Karachi. We (Karachi) are the gateway to the entire Pakistan, Central Asia to Afghanistan...For 15 years, Karachi was not given even a bit of fresh water. Even the water we received was stolen by the tanker mafia," he said in the Parliament.
Pakistan's financial challenges
Kamal also highlighted that the CEOs of the 25 biggest companies in the world are from India and that Pakistan's IT exports are $2.7 billion while India's is $270 billion, according to ARY News. He also said that India's foreign reserves have jumped to $607 billion, while Pakistan is unable to spend its reserves due to crippling debt.
Pakistan continues to be enmeshed in an economic crisis with inflation remaining high and economic growth slowing to around 2 per cent. Meanwhile, the total debt burden on Pakistan has risen to a whopping 63,399 trillion Pakistani Rupees (PKR) ($12.2 billion) by the end of November last year in the financial year 2023-24, according to a local report.
The inflation in Pakistan has reached its highest point in nearly 50 years - soaring as high as 38 per cent. Food inflation has surged to 48 per cent, reaching its peak in 2016. The government's decision to devalue the currency by over 50 per cent within a year and eliminate subsidies has also exacerbated the cost-of-living crisis.
However, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has raised serious doubts about the capability of cash-strapped Pakistan to repay the global money lender as the country faces major challenges amid a debt crisis. This came after an IMF support team reached the country on Friday to hold talks with officials here after Islamabad requested a fresh bailout package under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF).
“Exceptionally high risks — notably from delayed adoption of reforms, high public debt and gross financing needs, low gross reserves and the State Bank of Pakistan's (SBP) net FX derivative position, a decline in inflows, and sociopolitical factors — could jeopardise policy implementation and erode repayment capacity and debt sustainability," read an IMF report.
(with inputs from ANI)
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