LAHORE  -  Caretaker Prime Minister An­waarul-Haq-Kakar on Tuesday reiterated that the state of Paki­stan would not allow anyone to unleash violence and kill people in the name of political, ethnic and religious divides as it was its responsibility to ensure law and order. The prime minister, in a lengthy interaction with the students of the Beacon house National University, said that no one could be given a licence to kill and eliminate others on the basis of political, ethnic and reli­gious differences. 

“To maintain law and order is the responsibility of the State, and I assure you that such ele­ments will never prevail on the State of Pakistan,” he asserted. 

The prime minister, elaborat­ing his viewpoint while respond­ing to a question, said that the one who reverted to fighting with the State and the country­men would get the befitting re­sponse. He said that the gov­ernment would not allow ter­rorists and militants to kill people with impunity as they had openly declared fight against the State and the ci­vilians in the country. “We have accepted their chal­lenge,” he said and expressed the resolve to fully respond to all threats with full force. 

To another query, he said that the government func­tioned primarily on revenue generation system. The coun­try had a tax collection of over Rs 9,000 billion, but there was tax evasion of more than al­most Rs 10,000 billion. The lack of effective revenue sys­tem had been a persistent problem which required ef­fective steps to rectify. He said that it was a consistent story with different past political set-ups and military dictators. For strengthening of econo­my, it was the first and fore­most requirement to develop a robust tax system, he add­ed, citing the Scandinavian countries with the highest tax revenue figures to their GDP (Gross Domestic Product). 

The caretaker prime min­ister said that if the interim set-up in the country could achieve the tax target, then why not an elected govern­ment! If they were not able to achieve such, then there was a serious flaw in the gover­nance system, he opined. 

He also underlined the need of improvement in the structure of bureaucracy and the governance system.

About a question related to Gaza, the caretaker prime minister said that Israel was displaying a force of brutal­ity with impunity. Pakistan had used the forum of Orga­nization of Islamic Coopera­tion (OIC) and other interna­tional fora and engaging with the European, United States and diplomats of other coun­tries by reminding them that if such a senseless behaviour on part of Israel continued, it would be radicalising about 1.4 billion Muslims across the world, he added. 

He reiterated that Paki­stan was continuously insist­ing that someone should stop the war and create a human­itarian corridor. About 9,000 children had lost their lives in Gaza so far, he lamented.

The prime minister said that the world was speaking about an independent Pales­tine with pre-June 1967 bor­ders and with Al Quds Al Sha­reef as its capital. 

He reaffirmed that Pakistan was genuinely committed with the Palestine cause and utilizing all the diplomatic circles to convey its message. 

Responding to another question regarding the pro­test of Baloch families in Is­lamabad, he said holding protests and demonstra­tions within the limits of laws throughout the world was a basic right but when those parameters were violated then laws were enforced by the governments. 

He said that the use of wa­ter cannon against the Baloch protestors was much criti­cised though he could cite about 200 incidents of its use in the European countries against protestors. 

The caretaker prime minis­ter said that the law enforce­ment forces retaliated when they were pelted upon with stones. All the arrested peo­ple had been released sub­sequently, he added. He fur­ther maintained that the women were agitating be­fore the National Press Club, Islamabad which was their right, adding they were giv­ing media interviews and en­joyed freedom of expression. 

“What the government has done wrong! The govern­ment enforces law as it has to be enforced whether anyone like it or not,” he added. 

The prime minister agreed to a student’s remarks that there were serious concerns over the judicial system in the country which required to be addressed. He also stressed upon change in be­haviour and equal applica­tion of laws on all. 

In a veiled reference to the political history, he said that institutions were used and ad­mired for personal benefits. Caretaker Prime Minister Ka­kar, replying to a query, said that youngsters should ex­plore opportunities abroad as such trends should not be con­sidered as brain drain. “They are the assets for the coun­try and the people should un­derstand the cycle as it is not a negative tendency,” he said, adding such trends were seen throughout the world.