SHAFAQNA PAKISTAN (Shia News Agency)
The Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) may not have been able to bring about desired changes in the country’s political landscape with their dharnas, but as per government estimates, the sit-ins at D-Chowk cost the national exchequer nearly one billion rupees on account of security arrangements.
Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, in a written response to a question, informed the National Assembly during Question Hour that Rs877.819 million was spent on the security of the sit-ins staged by the two parties in Islamabad. This is the first time the government has provided exact figures about the expenditures it had incurred on security-related arrangements for the sit-ins.
Following the marches of the two parties in August, the government repeatedly accused Imran Khan and Dr Tahirul Qadri of hurting the national economy. Some of the ministers put the figure of loss at a staggering Rs20 billion, unsubstantiated though.
They mainly attributed their estimates to the cancellation of Chinese president’s visit to Islamabad in mid-September during which he was scheduled to sign various investment projects worth over $30 billion.
Mussarat Rafique Mahesar of the PPP had sought the detailed information about the security-related expenditures separately for the PTI and PAT sit-ins.
In the written answer, the minister said, “expenditures were made for the security-related issues of the venue of the joint gathering of PAT and PTI as well as maintenance of law and order situation”.
Therefore, the minister explained, it wasn’t possible to segregate the amount spent on the security arrangements for the two protesting parties.
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