ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan Monday said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government had successfully set the future direction for the accomplishment of its economic and administrative policies under its 100-day agenda and its effects would be felt by the countrymen soon.
The prime minister assured the nation that the economic indicators of the country would flourish in the coming days, strengthening the rupee against US dollar, with diverse investment by the foreign investors.
During an interaction with a number of anchorpersons from different news channels, he maintained that plummeting of Pak rupee against US dollar was a temporary phase and just an adjustment done by the State Bank of Pakistan which would be over soon. There would be no shortage in the flow of dollars in the shape of foreign investment soon. The reason could be attributed to demand and supply of the dollar and the public speculations in the market which added to the rupee’s depreciation, he added.
He said the government was making efforts to make the institutions autonomous, so that they could take their decisions strictly in accordance with laws and referred to the step taken by the SBP. He said the government wanted that the institutions should be autonomous to deliver on their targets. The step was also taken to secure the foreign exchange reserves of the country and control the fiscal deficit, whereas the previous government invested seven billion dollars to artificially keep the price of rupee afloat, he added.
The prime minister said the PTI government had inherited mutli-dimensional challenges left behind by the previous regimes, including massive fiscal deficit of 19 billion dollars. He said due to the PTI government’s efforts for the economic turnaround, an increase in exports and remittances through legal channels was being witnessed.
The foreign companies were eyeing huge investment in diverse fields, he said, referring to the investment of Exxon Mobil, Pepsi and Coca Cola, besides upcoming Chinese investment. The prime minister said China had attracted investment by creating export zones and the PTI government was emulating the same model in Pakistan.
He said the government was tightening the noose around money launderers with strict laws as reportedly the money laundering volume from the country amounted to 10 billion dollars per annum.
About removal of censorship on state-owned PTV, the prime minister maintained that the PTI government wanted transparency on all issues. “The censorship was imposed with intentions; if you had fears and wanted to hide information from the public. “Here lies the difference between the democracy and dictatorship,” he said, adding the government wanted to be transparent on all fronts, which was unprecedented. The government desired the media and the parliament to keep check on the functioning and performance of the ministers, so that they could be made accountable to the public.
The prime minister said his cabinet members had submitted their performance reports to him and he would take decisions after going through them. Within 10 to 12 days, he would be in a position to apprise the media about any decision on reshuffling of the federal cabinet in the light of the performance reports, he added.
None of the government inherited such issues, including fiscal deficit, the prime minister said and defended the 100 days agenda of the PTI government, saying his government would also focus to rid the countrymen of the elitist system whether in education, health, legal or jobs opportunities.
In the past, the system was an eschewed one for the poor segments of the society, he said, adding the reforms were being introduced in the government-run hospitals with issuance of the health cards for the poor, besides, legislation being done for provision of the legal assistance to them.
To a query, the prime minister defended his proposal over poultry breed to counter poverty in the rural areas and referred to Bill Gates and the United States with huge reliance on its production. He said throughout the world the halal meat trade volume had touched 2,000 billion dollars per annum.
Imran Khan mentioned the multi-crises created by the previous rulers, saying all the institutions in the country were running in losses, including the Pakistan International Airlines and Railways. The former government left behind Rs 1,200 billion circular debt.
The PTI government would follow the models of Singapore and Malaysia by putting all the loss-making institutions under a holding company to improve their functioning, he added.
The prime minister said that he had never interfered in the functioning of institutions and cited the issue of his residence regularization by the Capital Development Authority (CDA). Such thing had never happened in the past.
To another query, he replied he had neither interfered in Azam Swati’s issue nor in the JIT’s report and assured that the Supreme Court’s decision over the issue would be implemented.
About panic among the business community, Prime Minister Imran Khan said the PTI government had introduced ease of doing business policy in the country for the first time and assured one-window operation facility for all the local and foreign investors. “We are trying to create easiness for the business community and investors in Pakistan and hope we will succeed in our efforts,” he added.
Imran Khan said after the 1970s, an anti-investors culture was introduced in the country and the de-industrialization policy reversed all the things. He said the Federal Board of Revenue had been bifurcated into two departments and its job would be just collection of tax while policy would be formulated by the ministries of finance and commerce.
About the reported go-slow policy of bureaucracy, the prime minister said anti-corruption programme was not his invention. “The nation will decide either we should go with corruption or not. Eradication of corruption is a must for the future of Pakistan,” he said, and added those bureaucrats who were earning money from the corrupt system were sabotaging the government’s initiatives and pursuing the go-slow policy. The bureaucrats, who were creating hurdles for the government, would be changed, he warned.
The prime minister said if NAB were under his control then at least 50 to 60 big corrupt persons would have been behind the bar. The opposition was crying about the failure of the government from the first day, he said, adding the cases against the big tycoons were not registered by the present government but were done before the PTI came into power. He said the government had inked agreements with 26 countries for exchange of information about money laundering and the data it had received so far showed $11 billion in accounts of various Pakistanis abroad.
The interesting thing, he said, was that the authorities in the UAE and Saudi Arabia were not providing information regarding the iqama holders. It transpired as to why some people were iqama holders of the two countries because they were involved in money laundering, he added.
He said an agreement with Switzerland had also been signed and now the government would get information about the bank accounts of Pakistanis from there. Billions of dollars of the looted money were kept abroad and now the government was getting information in that regard. The prime minister assured the media persons that there would be no problems of balance of payment to the country as dollars were pouring in to Pakistan. Some dollars would pour into the country due to improvement in the governance system while the rest would come from the looted money, he added.
About tense relations with the opposition, the prime minister said their demand for appointment of Shehbaz Sharif as chairman of the Public Accounts Committee was illogical as it would be a joke for the country and the parliament. The opposition could not blackmail the government through such tactics, he said, adding the country was looted in the name of Charter of Democracy during the last 10 years but they were now crying that democracy was in danger.
He said the government had met the opposition’s demand of formation of a parliamentary committee regarding rigging in the election. He said owing to the plundering of past governments, all the institutions were in losses while the country’s loans had reached Rs 30 trillion.
The prime minister defended Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, saying the province had not got such a chief minister, who was easily accessible to the people. He said being a prime minister, he did not interfere in the affairs of any department.
About the fate of Minister for Science and Technology Azam Khan Swati, he said the government would implement the Supreme Court’s decision in his regard. If Swati was found guilty he would himself resign and the government would not interfere into it. He, however, added that no powerful person being in power had never been interrogated in Pakistan earlier. Imran expressed ‘regret’ over remarks by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar in which the top judge pointed to alleged nepotism on Khan’s part in the appointment of Zulfi Bukhari as Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development.
He once again defended his inclination towards reversing his own decisions, saying, “People always blame me for taking U-turns, I have never denied that and I don’t think of it as a bad thing. What’s wrong in changing the strategy to achieve your goals?” “My goal is across-the-board accountability and I’m willing to shake hands with anyone who won’t object to that,” he said.
Khan said he decides to travel abroad only when he knew the visit would be beneficial for Pakistan’s economy. “Right now everyone abroad is aware that our economy is destroyed. So, my focus is on fixing that before touring abroad.”
Answering a question regarding his government’s relationship with the military, Khan said leaders around the world seek the opinion of the military “since they are equipped with the means to brief us on security issues”.
He said Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa is standing steadfastly by the government. “There’s not a single decision that has been taken alone by either of us. All decisions are taken by me and Gen Bajwa stands right beside those decisions,” he said. Asked about his government’s efforts to address the missing persons’ issue, the prime minister said a meeting had been scheduled between him, Gen Bajwa and Balochistan National Party (BNP-M) President Sardar Akhtar Mengal. However, Mengal could not make it to the meeting, he said. “But for the record, Gen Bajwa has given me full assurance regarding resolving the missing persons’ issue,” he said. About Donald Trump’s letter to him, the prime minister said the US president had asked Pakistan to play its part in the resolution of the Afghan issue through peace process. He said he had always called that the Afghan issue would be resolved through talks not through use of force. Its resolution was not only in the interest of Afghanistan and Pakistan but also for the entire region, he added.
Published in Daily Times, December 4th 2018.
