The Pakistan People’s Party on Tuesday denounced the government’s decision to close the Utility Stores Corporation, calling it a deliberate move to burden the masses already crushed under record inflation. Addressing a joint press conference, party leaders Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmed and Nadeem Afzal Chan said the utility stores, introduced by former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto as a public welfare measure, have long served as an essential support system for low-income families. Manzoor rejected the recently announced Rs19 billion relief package as a cruel joke noting that the amount was not even equal to the worth of a single plaza owned by the corporation. He maintained that instead of providing genuine relief, the government had worsened public misery
Nadeem Afzal Chan further announced that the PPP would table a bill in the National Assembly to grant legal cover to the Utility Stores Corporation, ensuring its permanent continuation as a public facility. Both leaders also expressed alarm over the widespread destruction caused by recent floods, accusing the government of negligence in disaster preparedness and management. They demanded that all flood-hit areas be declared calamity-stricken zones and that urgent cash transfers be made to victims through the Benazir Income Support Programme and NADRA’s verified database. Such measures, they stressed, would allow families to secure basic food supplies and protect their livestock. The PPP leaders pledged to continue raising their voice on every platform to safeguard public rights and secure immediate relief for those in need.
