Daily Times

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday admonished the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for recent protest violence, accusing its leaders of causing grave economic harm to the country and directing authorities to establish anti-riot forces nationwide.

“The forces should be professionally trained and equipped with tools meeting international standards,” the premier said while chairing a review meeting on the law-and-order situation in Islamabad.

Islamabad was brought to a standstill on Monday and Tuesday when scores of PTI supporters flooded the federal capital, defying a ban by authorities.

The former ruling party’s “do-or-die” protest demanding PTI founder Imran Khan’s immediate release was shelved abruptly after law enforcement agencies (LEAs) launched a crackdown.

PTI leader Salman Akram Raja, claiming that at least 20 people lost their lives, said that the party would move courts against the government, the Ministry of Interior, and the interior minister.

During the meeting, the prime minister was briefed on the recent vandalism of public property and attacks on police and Rangers personnel by protesters.

He said that those involved in this unprecedented corruption and conspiracies to bankrupt the country to save their regime were now in the clutches of the law. “Instead of taking the legal route, attempts were repeatedly made to spread chaos across the country by marching on Islamabad,” he said.

PM Shehbaz added that security forces personnel were injured and martyred during the march of the anarchists. “These so-called revolutionaries are making sinister attempts to destroy the country.”

He said these nefarious attempts to spread chaos had caused the country billions worth of losses.

“This gang of anarchists and its leaders are responsible for the economic damage to the country,” he said, adding that the miscreants should be immediately identified and given exemplary punishment.

Directing officials to devise a comprehensive strategy to prevent marches on Islamabad or other cities for personal gains, the premier called for bringing those inciting public unrest and chaos to justice.

Meanwhile, PM Shehbaz also addressed the 26th National Security Workshop of Defence University in Islamabad.

Speaking on the occasion, the premier reiterated the government’s resolve to transform Pakistan’s economic landscape, saying that the national security of the country had direct linkages with economic security.

“If we are economically strong, our exports are growing fast, the industrial sector is expanding … then our economic security will automatically strengthen our critical security,” he said.

Emphasising the government’s commitment to execute a comprehensive “Charter of Economy”, the prime minister said that in 2018, he as an opposition leader, had also suggested the idea of the Charter of Economy and now “We are fully prepared to execute this idea”.

The prime minister, stressing the need to privatise all the state entities (SOEs), said the government must pull out of such [loss-making] businesses as its mandate was only to facilitate private enterprises.

“We should completely do away with the businesses [SOEs] to save trillions of rupees,” he said, adding that all institutions were on the same page, with Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir also fully aligned on this issue.

Felicitating the audience over the strong performance of the Pakistan Stock Exchange which crossed 100,000 points on Thursday, the prime minister said this was the result of team effort and close coordination among the federal government and various stakeholders.

“This is also about business sentiments and we believe that Pakistan is slowly and steadily moving towards the right direction.”

He said the day before yesterday the stock market witnessed a steep fall of around 4,000 points due to what happened in Islamabad; however, he added that as the situation became normal, the market rebounded in the next couple of days and crossed 100,000 points for the first time in the history of Pakistan.

The prime minister said that over a period spanning more than a decade, economic progress slowed down rather than deteriorating due to various factors.

He said the country was still facing many challenges. “We all know that in June 2023 … Pakistan was on the verge of default due to a variety of reasons that we all know.”

The prime minister highlighted that the government managed to bring the economy out of crisis due to a successful standby agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

However, he said that the programme would bring more hardship to the people, but the government had no choice.

On the security challenge, he said around 80,000 people sacrificed their lives in the war against terrorism and the economic losses touched $130 billion.

He said during the Nawaz Sharif government, terrorism had been completely defeated; however, “this menace has resurfaced, manifesting in daily tragic incidents.”

“What happened in Parachinar just a few days ago, innocent people lost their lives from both sides,” he said expressing grief.

He resolved to protect the country’s future with the support of all stakeholders. “Together we have to move forward and this can only happen through unity of actions.”