Daily Times

LAHORE: Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal on Saturday ruled out any confrontation among state institutions, saying some people wanted to create misgivings to propel their political agenda.

Speaking to media persons after attending International Business Conference and Exhibition at Expo Centre, he said there was a “troika of failed politicians, retired generals, and TV talk show hosts” which makes claims about political and economic instability in the country everyday on TV.

Ahsan Iqbal said the country’s economy had suffered a lot owing to political developments in the past four years. The Panama Papers scandal inflicted a loss of around $40 billion on the stock market, the minister claimed. The country’s economy had collapsed in 2013 when no one was ready to invest in Pakistan, but now it was making progress, he said and hoped if it continued to progress at the current pace, the country would be among the world’s twenty largest economies by 2025.

All economic indicators were showing positive improvements, he added. Consistency in economic policies was indispensable for the progress of the country, he said while predicting that Asia would make up 50 percent of the world economy by 2025.

Referring to the criticism of the government over borrowing loans, the minister said that loans were taken for the development of the country. Without stability and peace, development was not possible, Iqbal further said. About next general elections, he said, the polls would be held as scheduled, in 2018.

Earlier, the minister addressed the inaugural session of 2nd International Business Conference and Exhibition. He said that perpetrators of doom and gloom were not sincere with Pakistan.

Published in Daily Times, October 29^th 2017.