Daily Times

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday urged the international community to help avert a looming humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, which was facing severe economic problems owing to its frozen assets.

Pakistan would do every effort to help address the sufferings of the 40 million Afghan people, he said, while addressing the inaugural session of the Islamabad Conclave on “Peace and Prosperity in South Asia” here at the Institute of Strategic Studies.

The prime minister said Pakistan through the OIC would play its part to reach out to the Afghan people who were in dire need of food, shelter and medicines. He mentioned the freezing of Afghanistan foreign exchange reserves by the United States as one of the major factors behind the economic and humanitarian crisis for Afghans, who were facing problems for the last 40 years. He said that due to the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, Iran was also facing the problem of refugees. The prime minister said that peace in Afghanistan was not only vital for the future of Pakistan but also for the Central Asian States which were much interested in regional trade and connectivity.

Imran Khan in his address spoke on various issues of regional and international interests including Pakistan-India relations, Jammu and Kashmir dispute, climate change, etc. The prime minister while highlighting the importance of resolving the Jammu and Kashmir dispute for peace and prosperity of region said that the Kashmir dispute had made the whole of South Asia hostage.

Imran Khan recalled that soon after coming into power he contacted the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and made efforts for the resumption of dialogue to resolve the outstanding disputes in a peaceful manner, but they took it as Pakistan’s weakness. The prime minister said he had a considered opinion that the disputes like Jammu and Kashmir could only be resolved through dialogue and not through “bomb and guns”.

If the issues could be resolved through the bomb and guns, then the United States, which was a big military power, should have won in Afghanistan, he remarked. The prime minister said it was unfortunate not only for the Kashmiris alone but also for the 500 million minorities living in India that Modi-led regime with an ideology of RSS-Hindutva and supremacy of upper class Hindus was in power.

The prime minister said that Pakistan wished and prayed for a government in India with which it could talk with logic and argument for the just resolution of Jammu and Kashmir dispute through dialogue. About international politics vis a vis South Asia, Imran Khan referred to the emerging blocks and the cold-war and maintained that Pakistan would not become part of any block and cold-war and would rather play a role to bring the countries closer. He in that regard also mentioned Pakistan’s positive role for bringing closer the United States and China in the past and then also mediating between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

He regretted that some think-tanks in the US and West, without having the knowledge of and on-ground realities about important issues like religion and extremism, build opinions and gave their views about Pakistan.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan emphasized that using force was no solution to eliminate extremism, rather instilling moral and ethical values into the young generation would create a moderate, tolerant and progressive society.

“The main objective of establishing Rehmatul Lil Alameen Authority is to raise the moral standards of our society,” he added.

The prime minister was answering a question about extremism and rising number of crimes against women and children, during an interactive session with officers participating in the 115th National Management Course (NMC).

Discussing the need for a single national curriculum, he stated that parallel education systems had created class distinctions.

The government intended to have a core curriculum adopted throughout the country so that children get a strong base, the prime minister said, adding, thereafter, it was the choice of students to specialize in whatever field they wanted.

He said the Authority would conduct research and provide guidance based on the life of Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him).

The prime minister said that children had access to every kind of material through mobile phones and to an immature mind such content gave way to misconceptions and extremism.

The government would provide an alternative to our youth i.e. the teachings of Holy Prophet (PBUH) including respect, dignity, family values, ethics and morality, he added.

Addressing the officers of 115th National Management Course officers, the prime minister said that civil servants bore a huge responsibility for serving the public and striving for welfare of the masses.

He emphasized that as decision makers, there would always be two choices for them.

“One is the easy way of earning money and corruption that leads to destruction and the other is to earn respect and growth which is slow and full of challenges,” he remarked.

Deliberating on the economic challenges, the prime minister stated that the present government inherited a huge fiscal debt due to corruption and malpractices of the previous regimes.

He added that despite Covid pandemic which adversely impacted the world economy, Pakistan managed its economy with success which had been acknowledged by international organizations.

The prime minister stated that due to the government’s “ease-of-doing-business” policy, all economic indicators were moving in positive direction particularly large scale manufacturing, exports and construction sectors.

Lamenting the lack of long-term planning by the previous governments, he stated that the present government had initiated work for construction of 10 dams in order to meet the country’s energy and water requirements.

The prime minister said achieving economic growth and prosperity was a gradual process, but the government was committed to implementing long-term reforms in all sectors that would lead to Pakistan becoming regional leader as it was in the decade of 70s.