ISLAMABAD: Heated exchanges dominated the Senate on Friday as the opposition accused the government of institutional overreach, election manipulation and economic mismanagement, prompting the treasury benches to hit back with allegations of “economic terrorism” and reminders of the Results Transmission System (RTS) failure during the 2018 polls.
Speaking on a calling-attention notice, PTI parliamentary leader in the Senate Ali Zafar said Parliament had been rendered “irrelevant and meaningless”, with key decisions on the economy, security and foreign policy being taken outside the House.
He alleged that agreements shaping the country’s future were signed without parliamentary oversight, calling it a betrayal of civilian supremacy and the Constitution. “Will this Senate remain a rubber stamp or will it rise to face the storm?” he asked, urging lawmakers to reclaim lost civilian space.
Zafar said a full-blown constitutional crisis had emerged following the February 8, 2024 general election, claiming the public mandate was “systematically destroyed through violence and manipulation”. He cited Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and former prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan to stress that democracy was rooted in the will of the people.
Terming the current setup a “house built on sand”, Zafar argued that a government without moral and legal authority could not unite the nation or steer it through crises. He also warned of what he described as the “economic slaughter” of the people, blaming soaring inflation, rising public debt — now at Rs80 trillion — and a lack of vision for exports, jobs, IT growth and support for small and medium enterprises.
He further alleged political victimisation through the “weaponisation” of laws, saying manufactured cases were eroding public trust in the state and weakening Pakistan’s foreign policy positions.
Calling the PTI an “alternative government”, Zafar demanded the formation of a special parliamentary committee to probe alleged election fraud and institutional overreach, and sought a Senate resolution rejecting policies that, he said, deepened inequality and crushed the poor.
Responding to the speech, Minister of State for Finance Bilal Azhar Kayani accused the PTI’s 2018–2022 government of economic mismanagement that pushed millions below the poverty line and brought Pakistan close to default.
He said the PTI changed four finance ministers, mishandled negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and later sabotaged the programme for political reasons. Kayani alleged that PTI leaders even wrote to the IMF to derail the agreement, describing the move as “economic terrorism”.
The minister said the incumbent government took tough but necessary decisions to revive the IMF programme, restore international confidence and avert sovereign default. Despite resistance, he added, the economy had been stabilised and the focus had now shifted to sustainable growth and job creation.
Kayani also called on the PTI to apologise for what he termed repeated attempts to push the country towards default.
