Injustice leads to anarchy: PM

LAHORE: Prime Minister Imran Khan has said the major cause of anarchy in the country is injustice, and that people wanted to be part of the society if justice is done to them.

While addressing his party workers and leaders on completion of 100 days of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led coalition government in Punjab, he said a sense of deprivation among the people of Balochistan was causing unrest in the province. He said people always become part of society where justice is provided to them without any discrimination, but the enemy exploits the situation if justice is not done to people.

He said that rulers’ corruption enhanced the feeling of uncertainty among the people of Balochistan, adding that it was high time we should learn lessons from the past mistakes.

The PM said that injustice was responsible for dismemberment of Pakistan in 1971. He said that in 1947, the people of the present Bangladesh were staunch supporters of creation of Pakistan, but when injustice was done to them, they stood against it, which eventually resulted in the country’s division into two parts. He recalled that in 1988, he played an exhibition match in Dhaka, Bangladesh against India, in which Pakistan defeated India and the crowds gave an enthusiastic response to the Pakistani team, in and outside the stadium. Categorically ruling out any compromise with the opposition over accountability of its leaders, Prime Minister Imran Khan said that no reconciliation would be reached with the corrupt elements in the name of democracy.

Besides, the PM vowed to bring all the pending cases in civil courts to a logical end within one year.

The PM said it was a joke with the nation that Shahbaz Sharif, a person facing National Accountability Bureau (NAB) cases would chair the meetings of National Assembly Public Accounts Committee (PAC). He said Pakistan was made fun of the world over for appointing a jailed person the PAC chairman.

Terming the opposition protest in parliament a drama, he said when the government asked for nominating someone else instead of Shahbaz Sharif for the slot of PAC chairman, they insisted over his name.

Imran said that whether it was issues related to the production orders of Khwaja Saad Rafique, formation of a commission to probe alleged election rigging or nomination of Shahbaz as the PAC chairman, the government was ready to accept every demand, but it would not make any compromise on the accountability process.

Imran said he launched his struggle against corruption 22 years ago and the menace, if not controlled, would put the future of the country at stake.

He also said that a leader must have one quality, that was honesty, and if he lacked that trait, there was no use of his all other abilities.

Citing the example of countries like Singapore and Malaysia, Imran stated that there was a time when Pakistan was amongst the prosperous nations, but now these states have made tremendous progress. He said one should look at General Ayub Khan’s US visit if one wanted to observe the respect the Pakistani leader commanded at that time.

He said China had nabbed around 400 of its ministers and officials over their involvement in corruption and it was crucial to protect Pakistan from it.

He said it was regretful that Pakistani parliament also passed legislation allowing a corrupt person to lead a political party, adding that politicians who had no stake in Pakistan caused huge loss to the country. He added that their children were brought up and educated abroad; they set up their properties on foreign lands and received medical treatment abroad.

He said these leaders also sought loans from the banks of Pakistan and set up assets abroad and had every stake outside Pakistan whereas they used Pakistan to remain in power.

The PM said that under the vision of Quaid-e-Azam, minorities in Pakistan enjoyed full religious rights and freedom, adding that Pakistani nation should tell Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi through their acts that minorities were in a far better situation here as compared to India under Modi rule.

Vowing to end disparity and injustice done to the people of southern Punjab, the PM said his government would ensure that resources or funds are distributed judiciously. He said that in the past tenure of Punjab, massive funds were used on projects of Lahore at the cost of Southern Punjab. He said that when the other districts of Punjab were ignored, it resulted in additional burden of population in Lahore which was now amongst one of the most polluted cities. He said due to high pollution in Lahore, the children and old age persons were suffering the most.

The PM said that the PTI government would ensure provision of equal rights to the people of southern Punjab and would take measures meant to strengthen its growers, enhance their yield and productivity and introducing agri reforms.

Regarding the first 100 days performance of the PTI government in Punjab, Imran stated the state lands grabbed by highly influential people worth billions of rupees were retrieved. The premier said that the anti-encroachment operation in the country was being carried out only for the benefit of the people of Pakistan. He said that reforms in agriculture sector were also inevitable. He said reforms in the Punjab Police were a must to help people get inexpensive and swift justice. He also said the investors were taking keen interest in Pakistan and assured that good time was arriving for the nation.

He also said that the government had decided to solve the pending cases in civil courts within one year and for that purpose, it had held discussion with bar councils and other concerned bodies.

Chief Minister Punjab Usman Buzdar also addressed the ceremony whereas Finance Minister Punjab Hashmi Jawan Bakht briefed the participants over the steps taken by the PTI Punjab government in its 100 days for the welfare of people.

Later on, at another function, Prime Minister Imran Khan assured the business community that the PTI government would improve the investment environment for industrial sector. He also promised to remove bureaucratic hurdles by improving governance.

He was addressing a luncheon, given by All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) Chairman Syed Ali Ahsan in his honour. Leading textile exporters were also present.

The PM said that business and industry flourish if they make money. Unfortunately, he added, the bureaucracy generally does not have good opinion about those who amass wealth. He said if wealth is generated through legal means, it should be respected. He said the government is already taking action against those who amass illegal wealth, but it has not touched genuine businesses. He said two leaders that appreciated creation of wealth have succeeded in taking their nation to new heights of development. Those two leaders are Mahatir Muhammad and Sheikh Muhammad from the Muslim world that provided opportunities to the investors to make money.

Imran said that the PTI government was gradually removing the hurdles faced by industries. He said the power and energy rates have been brought down to lower the cost of doing business. More actions are being contemplated to remove hurdles, delays and culture of rent seeking to facilitate the exporting sectors. The irrational duties on inputs on exporting industries are being rationalised. He conceded that a withheld refund of businesses is a serious issue and hurdle that his government is resolving gradually. He assured that the issue of rebates would be resolved as it is his firm belief that not doing so would be a disaster for the industries and the economy. He said he aims to restore the creditability of the government in the eyes of investors.

The PM said that after only four months in power, he has realised that the foreign investors are waiting for the good governance in Pakistan. He said once good governance is ensured there would be no dearth of foreign investment in the country. In fact, he added, numerous foreign investors are contemplating to invest in a more transparent and fair Pakistan. He said the country would now increasingly use information technology to improve governance and efficiency. He hoped that after the steps taken by the government to remove hurdles the exporters would double up their efforts to increase exports.

Earlier, Aptma Patron-in-Chief Gohar Ejaz gave a detailed presentation to the prime minister about the state of textiles in the country. He was highly appreciative of PM action on reducing and equalising energy and power rates throughout the country. He said this step would revive the closed capacity of textiles. Chairman Aptma Syed Ali Ahsan thanked the prime minister.