In his address to nation, Shehbaz Sharif says despite conspiracies, coalition govt cleared economic landmines laid by previous govt n Pays special thanks to China, Saudi Arabia, UAE leaders for playing role to bring Pakistan out of crisis.

 

ISLAMABAD/MULTAN  -  Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Thursday said that he would hand over the government to the care­taker set-up in the next month.

In his over 14-minute address to the nation, PM Shehbaz Sharif said despite challenges and con­spiracies hatched by the political opponents, the coalition govern­ment had successfully managed to put the country in the right di­rection in the shortest period. 

The prime minister also said that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme agreed by the previous government on the toughest conditions was the biggest obstacle in the way of the country's economic revival. The last regime had brought the country to the brink of default by deviating from that agree­ment, he added. 

He said ironically, the politi­cal opponents remained busy in hatching conspiracies and cre­ating hurdles while the coali­tion government was trying to resume the programme. The in­cumbent government had to face the biggest challenges and conspiracies in Pakistan's dem­ocratic history in the shortest period, and steered it out of the deep crisis, he added.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Shar­if further said the coalition gov­ernment was going to end in Au­gust on completing its tenure and would hand over the reins to the caretaker set up. "During the short period of one and a quar­ter years, due to our collective wisdom and prudent policies, we cleared the debris and eco­nomic landmines laid by the pre­vious government," he added. 

He said the period of his gov­ernment was a journey of mov­ing from the destruction to­wards construction, economic stability, helping the flood affect­ed people, providing maximum employment to the jobless and relief to the people hit by infla­tion, and revival of freedom of speech, media freedom and na­tional integration. 

He said the coalition parties sacrificed their politics for sav­ing the country from default by taking the toughest decisions. "We always remained worried about increasing the foreign exchange reserves instead of thinking about our vote banks." The prime minister said despite anti-state conspiracies, the gov­ernment did not lose its heart and succeeded to reach a staff level agreement with the IMF.

“Today on behalf of the whole nation, I sincerely thank friend­ly and brotherly countries Chi­na, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, which once again supported Pa­kistan with sincerity under very difficult situation and that can never be forgotten,” he added. 

He said the way, Chinese Pres­ident Xi Jinping, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman and UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan played their role in bringing Pakistan out of the crisis, was praiseworthy.

The prime minister also ac­knowledged the efforts of Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on the diplomatic front. Similar­ly, he also appreciated Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and Chief of the Army Staff General Syed Asim Munir for their untiring efforts to help stabilize the economy. 

Now, he said, the time had come to regain the country’s lost glory by moving forward with collective wisdom and struggle. For that purpose, he added, a comprehensive na­tional plan of economic reviv­al had been finalised. The Spe­cial Investment Facilitation Council had been set up, which had initiated its work and was paving the way for big invest­ments from the Gulf countries in various fields including ag­riculture, industry, energy, IT, defence production and min­erals, he said.

PM Shehbaz also assured the nation that on this nation­al agenda, the federal govern­ment, all the provincial govern­ments, and the armed forces were adopting the whole of the government approach to make it a success. Expressing satis­faction over the overall eco­nomic situation, the prime minister said the trust of the business and investment com­munities was also reviving while the international rating agency Fitch had also improved Pakistan’s rating to triple C. 

Similarly, he said, the United Nation’s Human Rights Council had also testified the improving situation of human rights in Pa­kistan whereas the country had also showed improvement by seven points in the Internation­al Freedom Index. 

Shehbaz Sharif said when the staff level agreement with the IMF was announced on June 30, the investors expressed their full satisfaction through the Stock Exchange Market as the KSE-100 index jumped by re­cord 2446 points in a single day. 

Now the Stock Exchange had crossed the 45,000 points lev­el which was the highest in 14 months, he said adding that the value of Pakistani Rupee was also improving. 

The prime minister said the Rs 1,150 billion historical devel­opment budget, Rs 2,000 billion agriculture development fund under Kissan Package, conver­sion of agriculture tube wells to solar energy, Rs 80 billion Prime Minister Youth Programme, in­terest-free and concessional loans in agriculture industry, IT and other sectors, provision of laptops to the talented stu­dents, educational scholarships, women empowerment, special scholarships to families of mar­tyrs, and timely completion of infrastructural projects were few of the achievements of the incumbent government. 

Resolving to break the beg­ging bowl, he asked the youth to come forward to take the coun­try to new heights of develop­ment and prosperity.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday said the deal inked with Inter­national Monetary Fund (IMF) was a moment for Pakistan to reevaluate its policies towards attaining the goals of financial self-reliance.

“The IMF agreement is not a moment of rejoice, but to assess the state of affairs as to how the country has become dependent on loans and foreign grants,” he said in his address at the PM Youth Loan and Laptop Scheme event here at the Bahauddin Za­kariya University.

The IMF’s executive board on Wednesday approved the $US3 billion stand-by agreement for Pakistan to help overcome its current financial challenges.

The prime minister said though the country had avert­ed the dangers of default, how­ever, consistent efforts were re­quired to stabilize the economy from recent external shocks.

He emphasised a united ap­proach by all segments of the country including the govern­ment, the State institutions, and the nation to lead the country towards financial self-reliance.

“A nation, which learns from its mistakes and takes correc­tive measures, attain the goals of prosperity,” he said. Terming youth the future of Pakistan, he said the development policies must ensure their inclusion in the national mainstream.

The government, he said, was pursuing the vision of encour­aging the youth in educational and professional fields.

He appreciated the brilliant students who were focus­ing their energies on educa­tion with dedication and hard work. He recalled establishing several Danish schools across Punjab and south Punjab for underprivileged students to help them excel.

The prime minister said con­trary to nepotism, merit could help drive students belonging to underprivileged backgrounds to achieve success in their fields. He mentioned that due to the restraint of resources, only 100,000 laptops were being dis­tributed under the programme and stressed the need for ex­panding the project to benefit a large number of students.

PM Sharif pointed out that during the tenure of the pre­vious government, industri­alists were given loans on a meager four percent markup which incurred big losses to the economy.

Had these loans been given to students for entrepreneur­ship, the outcome would have been much positive and better, he added. He announced to in­crease in the number of laptops for students up to five million and set up a Medical City in Mul­tan if their party came to power in the next general election.

He also announced the con­struction of a flyover at Shu­jaabad to facilitate the people of the area.

The prime minister on the occasion distributed laptops among the talented university students on merit and also gave away cheques of entrepreneur­ship loans to youth.

Governor Punjab Balighur Reh­man, Caretaker Chief Minister Punjab Mohsin Naqvi, Informa­tion Minister Marriyum Aurang­zeb, Special Assistant to PM Atta Tarar, Vice Chancellor Bahauddin Zakariya University, Dr Muham­mad Ali, and provincial govern­ment officials were present.

PM SHEHBAZ GETS BRIEFING ON NISHTAR-II HOSPITAL

Prime Minister Shehbaz Shar­if here on Thursday visited the site of Nishtar-II hospital to check the status of mega tertia­ry healthcare project worth Rs 9450 million and praise Caretak­er Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi and his team for their untiring efforts that made the OPD oper­ational and formal completion in sight, by September 30, 2023.

Soon after his arrival at Mul­tan International airport, the prime minister reached the Nishtar-II hospital site where he received briefing from CEO Infrastructure Development Authority of Punjab (IDAP) and was informed that the project was initiated on December 29, 2019 carrying a cost of Rs 9450 million at a spacious 456 Kanal area and so far Rs 7430 million funding had been utilized, about 79 per cent of the total cost.

PM Shehbaz Sharif commend­ed the health secretary Pun­jab Ali Jan Khan, Commissioner Multan engineer Amir Khatak, IDAP CEO and all relevant de­partment who did hard work to make another most advanced tertiary healthcare facility that would benefit people of Multan, rest of south Punjab besides nearby districts of Sindh and Balochistan.

The prime minister said, the machinery had arrived and ex­pressed his desire for comple­tion of the project as per the schedule. 

Shehbaz Sharif later told me­dia persons that a lot space was available around the project site and added that he would talk to the chief minister to develop a medical city there. 

After the briefing, the prime minister accompanying Feder­al Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Au­rangzeb, Chief Minister Naqvi and others visited the Nishtar-II OPD where he talked to some patients and enquired after their health and the level of fa­cilities being provided. 

MNA Ahmad Hussain Dehar, on this occasion, thanked the prime minister for providing NIshtar-II facility and described it as a gift for Multaniites. “We had lost hope that project would see the light of the day. But with your support, this project will complete soon,” he added.

Earlier before the arrival of the prime minister, Mohsin Naqvi visited the Nishtar-II, vis­ited its different sections and reviewed the pace of progress. Foolproof security arrange­ments were put in place by the police on the occasion.

PM SHEHBAZ VISITS ABDUL GHAFFAR DOGAR’S RESIDENCE

Prime Minister Shehbaz Shar­if here on Thursday visited resi­dence of Prime Minister Special Assistant, Malik Abdul Ghaffar Dogar and expressed heartfelt condolences on the sad demise of his wife.

He offered Fateha and prayed to Allah Almighty to rest the departed soul in peace and grant courage to the bereaved family to bear the irreparable loss with fortitude.

The prime minister was ac­companied by Federal Minister for Information and Broadcast­ing Maryam Aurangzeb, Punjab Governor Engineer Muhammad Baligh Ur Rahman, State Minis­ter for Interior Abdur Rahman Khan Kanju, Special Assistant to Prime Minister Malik Muham­mad Ahmad Khan, SAPM Ata Tarar, and others.