Daily Times

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday said on completion of the incumbent government’s term, he would send a summary to the President of Pakistan for dissolution of the National Assembly by Wednesday. “After completing our [coalition govt’s] tenure, I will write to the president of Pakistan to dissolve the assembly,” the premier said while addressing a ceremony in Islamabad on Tuesday.

Explaining the scenario of a default country, the prime minister exemplified Sri Lanka and said such states had to curtail imports to save foreign exchange which ultimately led to severe shortage of life-saving drugs, petrol and other commodities, crisis of imported materials and closure of industry, thus leading to chaos.

Referring to his earlier meeting with a Saudi delegation, PM Shehbaz said he had invited Saudi firms to invest in the Diamer Bhasha Dam project which would need around $15 billion investment to build a reservoir and generate power of 4,000MW of electricity. He said in his tenure, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had allocated Rs 100 billion for the project but it could not move forward due to the respective government’s negligence.

Prime Minister Shehbaz said for the first time, Thar coal was being utilised under a CPEC project and around 2500MW of electricity was being generated.

He said if his party was given a chance in next elections, he would prove his commitment to rid the country of poverty and loans to make it self-sufficient and a great nation. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced to auction all of the gifts worth millions of rupees at Toshakhana and the revenue would be spent for the welfare of orphan children.

“I announce to auction all of the gifts worth millions or rupees at Toshakhana. But whole of the receipts will go nowhere else but the institutions of the orphan children whether they are welfare organizations, educational institutions or medical facilities. We will hand them over under a mechanism to support the orphans who are unable to face the challenges of life,” the prime minister said talking to a delegation of the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE), All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS), and Pakistan Broadcasters Association PBA).

The prime minister said that he felt honoured to announce the auction of Toshakhana gifts before the representatives of APNS, CPNE and PBA.

He told the media industry representatives that the incumbent government inherited very tough economic conditions but the coalition parties did not imagine the severity of the situation.

The prime minister said the previous government wasted last four years in mere victimisation of political opponents and also strained ties with friendly countries.

He said his government had tried its utmost to rectify the relations with friendly countries and had been able to control the damage to a great extent which also led to the signing of the agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The prime minister repeatedly called for the nation, particularly the youth, to forge unity and work hard to rid the country of loans and make it a great nation.

He said the incumbent government victimised no political opponent and that they were extremely busy to tackle the challenges of flood, inflation, economy, IMF, wheat import and foreign policy issues.

He said the media had a crucial role to play for the national unity and reduce the temperature as during the last four years, the previous government “poisoned” the society and the rectification was not that easy.

He said with the IMF agreement, the country was saved from default and otherwise the situation could have been extremely difficult with long queues at filling stations and people taken to streets. He said even the friendly countries had linked their support with the IMF deal.

He said the interim as well as the next elected government would have to join heads to strengthen the state and its people through self-sufficiency as the IMF had closed the doors to subsidies.

Prime Minister Shehbaz told the delegations that the friendly countries, including Saudi Arabia, were willing to invest in Pakistan and the Special Investment Facilitation Council would prove to be a game changer in that regard.

“The SIFC is a programme for economic recovery. If it goes on, this will be a game changer,” he remarked.

He said he would send the summary for dissolution of the National Assembly to the president on Wednesday and expressed the hope that the next government would pursue the SIFC vision to rid the country of loans within 5-10 years.

He said after the dissolution of the Assembly, the Chief Election Commissioner was mandated to decide the future course of action regarding the elections. However, he added, all the parties were unanimous for holding of the elections as early as possible.