The government claimed yesterday that the 22-day sit-in on the Constitution Avenue and subsequent political unrest had adversely affected the country’s economy, caused a loss of about Rs547 billion to the exchequer and shattered investors’ confidence.
The loss suffered by the economy included exchange rate depreciation of 4.3 per cent, debt burden of Rs228bn and stock value decline of Rs319bn, said a report submitted to the Supreme Court on behalf of Attorney General Salman Aslam Butt.
On Wednesday, a five-judge larger bench headed by Chief Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk asked the AG to submit a detailed list of the losses the government had suffered because of the sit-in.
The report is likely to be discussed on Friday when the court will resume the hearing on a set of petitions filed by a number of high court bar associations against the sit-ins in the federal capital by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and the Pakistan Awami Tehreek.
The report said the continuing protests had rendered the country vulnerable to terrorist attacks and other security-related risks. It accused the PTI and PAT workers of running a state within the state by having taken the law into their own hands.
