Daily Times

Prime Minister Imran Khan Saturday said the time is not far off when the people will witness Pakistan emerging as one of the strongest states in the world.

Addressing students of Cadet College of Isakhel Tehsil in Mianwali district after inaugurating a hostel building there and breaking ground for a mega water supply scheme for Isakhel and adjacent areas, the prime minister said since his entering into politics to becoming the prime minister, the people of Mianwali stood beside him despite the discouraging notions by the opposition parties. “When I got first (National Assembly) seat from Mianwali, I was mocked by some people as to how I will defeat the two old political parties. When I won (2018 general election), they asked how I will make a Naya Pakistan. All this will be done, Insha Allah. You will feel proud as the time is not far. You will just have to wait a bit more. You will see Pakistan to become one of the strongest countries in the world,” he remarked.

Imran Khan said the people of Mianwali stood by him when no one was with him. “They stood by me when it was questioned how a sportsman can do politics. The people of Isakhel won me the first (assembly) seat for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI),” he recalled.

The prime minister, who earlier broke ground of a Rs 3.25 billion water supply scheme for the Khattak belt, said it would suffice the water needs of all the union councils of the area except two. He said during his visits to the region for the last 24 years, most of the applications he had received from the people were related to water, fake FIRs (first information reports) by the powerful against the poor ones, and shortage of school or girls school teachers, nurses and doctors. As the doctors are mostly reluctant to be posted in the area, the government would come up with a policy to allow the local hospitals hire their own doctors, instead of waiting to get them from the health department, he added. Similarly, the shortage of girls school teachers would be addressed the same way, he said.

Reiterating his firmness on his decision to nominate Usman Buzdar as Punjab chief minister, he said a person hailing from a backward area could well realize the needs and pains of the underdeveloped areas instead of those who lived in palaces at Lahore. “Those living in palaces in Lahore and getting their medical checkup in London, when become chief minister, cannot feel how the people (of backward areas) live,” he remarked.

He said the State of Madina was based on two major principles of rule of law and humanity, and the Western countries like Denmark, Sweden and Norway achieved prosperity by adhering to the very model. He said a society could not survive for long where the people rotted in jails for minor thefts while those, who had looted billions, considered them untouchable. The major objective of State of Madina, he said, was to uplift the poor and protect them from any exploitation or victimization by the powerful ones.

The prime minister directed the Inspector General of Punjab Police and other senior officers to keep an eye on the police stations so that the weak people could not be victimized there. “We have to start it from this district. The police, and katchery and patwari politics was used to terrorize and force the people to vote for some influential person. I want to make you liberated (from this pressure) with no fear of the powerful people,” he remarked.

Prime Minister Imran Khan stressed upon availability of affordable and quality higher education opportunities for the talented youth of Pakistan as good education laid the foundation for a tolerant and progressive society.

The prime minister was addressing a ground breaking ceremony of Namal Knowledge City Phase 1 as a chief guest. It was envisioned earlier by the prime minister as a center of academic excellence for the marginalized population residing in remote areas, the PM Office said in a press release. The prime minister was briefed that after completion of first phase, more than 10,000 students from deprived areas would benefit from the Knowledge City. It was informed that this project would be environment friendly and would have a state of the art green structure.

The prime minister, in his address, paid special tribute and expressed deep gratitude for the commitments made by donors worth millions of dollars. He also expressed his desire to transform the institute into an internationally renowned center of excellence.