Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has vowed to eliminate terrorism from the country to pave way for the foreign investment in the country as the PML-N coalition government completed its one year in power.
“We should work in unison instead of pulling each other’s legs,” the premier said while addressing a special session of the federal cabinet meeting in Islamabad.
The premier said his administration stabilised the economy during its one year in power with the help of allies.
Highlighting the economic achievements of the coalition government including significant drop in inflation and key policy rate, the premier praised the cabinet members for the hard work.
“It has been a year, let alone a contentious scandal, opposition even failed to bring up a fake scandal against the government. What could be a greater achievement of yours than this,” he added.
The premier was of the view that the country was on the brink of bankruptcy when he assumed the office one year ago.
He slammed the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership for writing letters to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and urging the global lender not to approve loan for the cash-strapped nation.
The prime minister said that they should have to work hard to provide succour to hapless and financially weaker segments of society with all kind of assistance and compassion especially in the holy month of Ramadan, adding that the government had rolled out Rs20 billion Ramadan package to benefit 4 million deserving families through digital wallets system.
Each family would get Rs5,000 each, thus the new system would shut doors on all kind of allegations of financial mismanagement which had badly marred the functioning of entities like Utility Stores Corporation, he said, terming the relief initiative as ‘quantum jump which will succeed’.
With hard work, the government succeeded in achieving the economic turnaround and steering the country out of the financial straits.
The prime minister said all the macroeconomic indicators were on the high scale and asked the members to work hard with dedication and commitment as these were prerequisite for making Pakistan one trillion economy till the year 2035.
He also thanked leadership of all the coalition partners in the government including PPP, MQM, BAP and IPP for their support in the most difficult times.
“We are the bearers of May 28 achievement and not of May 9,” he said, questioning that a political party who was running a provincial government had written letters to IMF pressing against any agreement with the government.
The prime minister highlighting government’s efforts towards economic stability, expressed the confidence that Rs400 billion tax cases pending for adjudication in various courts would be decided expeditiously as the one by Sindh High Court which provided relief to the government with Rs23 billion.
He underlined the need of plugging Rs850bn losses incurred by the loss-making state owned enterprises terming them as’ bottomless pits’ which needed to be plugged, besides the need to end circular debt in the power sector.
The premier expressed the optimism that with collective efforts, Pakistan would emerge stronger and stressed upon development of a culture of forgiveness, affection and tolerance in the society.
In collaboration with China, Pakistan would launch its first joint astronaut mission soon, he added. He said the journey was dotted with challenges and difficulties but they would traverse the path towards progress and prosperity.