PM extends olive branch to everyone right and left

PM Imran Khan says Pakistan will never bow before anyone, will make independent decisions prioritising national interest

Prime Minister Imran Khan said that the government was ready to hold talks with everyone in the interest of peace, including the dissident elements in Balochistan and tribal areas, but would not sit down with those who looted public money on Saturday.

“We are ready to talk to everyone who has a different ideology or whom we call right or left. We are ready to resolve our issues with them peacefully… [whether] they are in Balochistan or erstwhile tribal areas or Waziristan. Only the ones whom we will never make any reconciliation with are those who looted and laundered the Pakistani people’s money,” he said while talking to a gathering in Mianwali.

Informing the gathering about Pakistan’s reshaped foreign policy, the PM said now the country would never bow before anyone; rather it would make independent decisions keeping national interest in view.

The prime minister also launched multiple projects under a Rs6.6 billion PM Package-II and district development package, which consisted of Rescue 1122 service, 72 road projects and upgradation of schools.

He broke ground for 23 development projects in health, education and road sectors worth around Rs36 billion for the uplift of Mianwali district, and also inaugurated another three, which were completed with a cost of Rs5.4 billion.

“God willing, when we will complete our five years… Mianwali will witness the development, which never happened in its history… I always promised that if I get a chance, I will give [the people] their right through my performance,” PM Khan said.

The new projects also included the restoration and upgrade of Balkasar-Mianwali road with an approximate cost of Rs13.5 billion and the Wooded Land at Namal Lake and Kundia Forest Park that would cost Rs120 million.

The PM told the charged gathering that no nation with discriminatory laws for the rich and the poor could ever make progress.

He said his government would never give National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO)-type concessions to anyone or go for any reconciliation with corrupt leaders until they were punished for their plunder.

He said the government was prioritising the education sector with particular focus on girls’ education. Regarding his brainchild, Namal University, he said it would emerge as the “Oxford University of Pakistan”, which would attract students from across the country, besides facilitating the people of Mianwali.

The premier said that not only Pakistan but the whole world, including the US, was faced with unprecedented inflation due to Covid-19  related lockdowns, which led to closures of businesses and reduction of production, thus causing price hike.

“You will have to understand, it is not only Pakistan’s issue. The US, which is the richest country, is facing the worst inflation after 1982 due to the lockdown,” he said.

However, he hoped that prices would come down in the country within three to four months. However, to ebb away the pressure of inflation from the poor, the government had announced Ehsaas Rashan Scheme to provide 30 percent subsidy on flour, ghee and pulses to those below Rs50,000 monthly income, he said.

Moreover, he highlighted the government’s initiatives of interest-free loans for three million families, Rs2.7 million interest-free housing loans, health cards for the whole of Punjab by next March and Rs47 billion higher education scholarships for 6.2 million students.