ISLAMABAD – Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday rejected the baselesspropaganda of the opposition parties of his government’s failure and saidPakistan would sail through the difficult times and become a developednation of the region.
“All the opposition parties are getting united to overthrow thegovernment. But for what reasons? From the very first day, the oppositionstarted the propaganda against the government because they fearedcontinuous revelation of facts by the latter exposing their corruption,” hesaid while speaking at a ceremony to mark the 23rd Founding Day of PakistanTehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) here at the Convention Centre.Referring to the money laundering by the Sharif family and fake bankaccounts case involving Asif Ali Zardari, the prime minister said theopposition parties were in a hurry to topple the government just to savethe public money looted by them.The interests of Pakistan and those of the opposition, he said, were polesapart. They (the opposition parties) got united in the name of protectingdemocracy. But they could not get any NRO (National ReconciliationOrdinance) because it were the previous NROs which caused to rise in thecountry’s debts to Rs 30,000 billion from Rs 6,000 billion, he added.The prime minister said Nawaz Sharif had been requesting the court to allowhim to get medical treatment abroad despite the fact that his family hadbeen ruling the country for decades but failed to establish even a singlemedical facility for their own treatment.He said the PTI government had inherited a country burdened with Rs 30,000billion debt, which was only Rs 6,000 billion 10 years before. He said hewould keep on drawing the comparison for the whole of his five-year stintto make the people know the real situation.Referring to the criticism by opposition parties, he said no doubt thepeople were facing inflation. As the oil prices at international level wereon the rise and if the same were contained in the country then the debtswould increase, he added.He said the government had inherited $19 billion deficit. The inflation was21.7 percent during the first eight months of the Pakistan Peoples Party(PPP) government, 8 per cents during the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz(PML-N) government and 6.8 per cent during the first eight months of thePTI government.He said Shehbaz Sharif led government left Rs 1100 billion deficit inPunjab against Rs 40 billion surplus left by the PTI government in KhyberPakhtunkhwa. The PML-N government in Punjab even ate up the employeesprovident fund of Rs 102 billion.The prime minister said the deficit of public sector organizations rose toRs 1300 billion in 2018 from Rs 538 billion. Similarly, the gas sector wasin deficit of Rs 150 billion and electricity Rs 1,200 billion while thePakistan International Airlines and the Pakistan Railways were also facinghistoric deficit.He said the difficult time would end when the reforms undertaken by the PTIgovernment came to fruition. The country was blessed with numerouspotential.He said in Naya Pakistan there would be no room for discriminatory laws.The prime minister told the charged party workers, office-bearers andparliamentarians that it was essential to know the objectives of PTI’s 23years struggle which also featured various ups and downs.He said after giving up the cricketing career, he had come into politicsfor the greater cause of public service.He said the country had enjoyed a remarkable stature in 60s and even in70s, but later, it gradually lost its dignity because the then rulersprioritized their personal interests and looted the public money.The prime minister, who is also the PTI Chairman, said it were always theleaders who made or marred the country. He cited Malaysia which made acomeback owing to the credible leadership as corrupt leaders had made thecountry bankrupt.He urged the PTI youth to study the life of the Holy Prophet HazratMuhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) and the principles which provided the basis ofState of Madina. It was the State of Madina that had founded the greatestcivilization which survived for around a thousand years.He said the PTI’s vision was in pursuance of Pakistan’s Ideology which wasrooted into the philosophy of Madina state. All the national issues werereasoned by the deviation from the principles of an Islamic welfare state.Recounting his party’s journey marking various ups and downs, the primeminister said for around 15 years, the people had ridiculed him for hisambitious plans. He always considered the Holy Prophet (PBUH) as his rolemodel, who had also gone through a 13-year long period of hardships duringhis struggle which later brought him success.Imran Khan said despite being a wealthy and renowned lawyer, Quaid-e-AzamMuhammad Ali Jinnah had struggled for four decades before earning thesuccess to accomplish his mission of a separate homeland for the Muslims.He said during his journey, two sorts of people accompanied him – the oneswho took the politics as a mission and the others being the opportunists.He paid gratitude to the struggle by S M Rasheed and Salomi Bukhari.He said the PTI’s greatest strength was that it achieved the statureconsequent to its years-long real struggle.The prime minister said the government had launched the biggest everanti-poverty programme called ‘Ihsas’ to uplift the poor population. Hesaid the people stood beside the state only when the state fulfilled theirbasic needs.He said the housing project had been launched where five million houseswould be constructed and he would launch next phase of it in Okara duringthe current week.He said Pakistan would become a hub of tourism as it had immense potentialin that regard. Before attracting the foreigners to the country, thegovernment would first bring overseas Pakistanis, he added.He said the PTI’s local government system would provide youth a greatopportunity to take part in the polling process that would remarkablyenhance the revenue generation.He said the agricultural reforms programme had been redesigned. China hadalso made the agriculture sector the part of CPEC and using the Chinesetechnology, the agriculture produce would increase. Top Chineseuniversities in IT and artificial intelligence would assist Pakistanivarsities while a similar university would be set up at the erstwhile PMHouse.He called for everyone’s prayers for the success of gas exploration beingcarried out by Exxon Mobil.He thanked Chief Organizer Saifullah Niazi for organizing the event andSenator Faisal Javed for making a documentary encompassing the 23-yearstruggle of the PTI.Earlier, PTI’s Vice Chairman and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qurshipresented tribute to the PTI workers for their untiring struggle andsupport to the party which ultimately brought a political change in thecountry.Lamenting the opposition’s hue and cry, he said how could a change bebrought in just first eight months of a new government . He said the twoparties had ruined the countries and destroyed its institutions.He said despite the opposition parties alliance, the PTI won a bye-electionin Multan and added they would face the same fate in the provincialassembly elections for merged areas of erstwhile FATA in June.A large number of party supporters, office-bearers, ministers, specialassistants to the prime minister, parliamentarians and party leadersattended the event.
