DAVOS - Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar on Wednesday expressed confidence that a stable government would be formed after forthcoming general elections, scheduled for February 8, eventually leading to sustainable economic stability in the country.
“I do see and project that there will be great growth in Pakistan. There will be a sense of stability. The growth will be slow but it will be sustainable,” the prime minister said in an interview with CNBC on the sidelines of the 54th annual meeting of World Economic Forum (WEF). He said that the speculations regarding holding the elections, had been addressed and everyone was certain about the election date of 8th of February.
PM Kakar said it was the top priority of the caretaker setup to bring economic revival and to focus on growth and other economic indicators. He said the next government had to follow a clear principle of spending less and earning more to achieve economic stability.
“We need to bring back the non-documented economy into the documented economy and transform our state to a more viable economic entity,” he added. He highlighted that the caretaker government would publish a white paper on its 4-5 months performance. “We did introduce and revamp the programme within taxation system, we brought structural changes that would be passed through the Cabinet formerly by the end of the month, after that it would be in place as policy.” Further, he said the caretaker government opted for aggressive privatization, it cut its expenditures at the federal level and it was also carrying out talks with the provinces so they could rationalize their expenditures. As regards delay in elections, the prime minister said the country faced legal and technical challenges related to the electoral procedures and processes. However, he said those challenges had been addressed now and the people of Pakistan would be given the opportunity to exercise their constitutional right of electing the leadership for the next five years. To a question about former PTI Chairman, PM Kakar said he was not in prison on account of his political opinion but due to his purported role for inciting riots and encouraging his followers towards disruption. He said the people who had been involved in the riots were behind bars. “It is not that the innocent people have been picked up for their political opinions and they have been denied a political role.”
The prime minister pointed out that the former PTI Chairman had the right to say that he was jailed because of his political opinion but let the court decide the issue. He said the matter would not be decided by any individual, media or any other group but the courts would address these points.
To a question about free and fair elections, PM Kakar said prior to holding elections, no one could question the fairness of the process. “Let the election happen as there will be international observers, the international media and other watchdogs to report whether the elections were held in the free and fair manner or not.”
PAKISTAN NEEDS TO BE MORE COMPETITIVE, ATTRACTIVE TO BENEFIT FROM INDUSTRIALISATION:
PM Earlier, addressing an event titled “20th Pakistan Breakfast at Davos 2024” held by Pathfinders Group, the PM said that Pakistan needed to be more competitive and attractive to facilitate the process of industrialisation in the region. Similarly, the GCC countries were rich with capital but had geographical disadvantages with the options of either importing the manpower or taking their capital to countries with a conducive environment and inexpensive energy and labour. He told the gathering of intellectuals, writers and representatives of welfare organisations, that Pakistan was a unique place owing to its diversified culture, geography and topography with the eight highest peaks, deserts of Thar and Balochistan and the plains of Punjab. Calling human resources, the biggest asset of Pakistan, he said 60 per cent of its 240 million population was under 30 years of age which meant whole of energy and required direction.
