By News Desk
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Wednesday Pakistan could be a partner in peace with the United States in Afghanistan but could not become partner in conflict now, as he made it clear the nation would not make compromises on its sovereignty due to fear of anyone.
“We must understand that when a nation does not respect itself, it is not respected by the world [...] we only want peace to prevail in Afghanistan, and that is in our best interest,” he said while speaking in the National Assembly.
Prime Minister Khan said the US had finally realised there was no military solution to the Afghan conflict, and was now asking Pakistan to press the Taliban for talks. He stressed Pakistan had no leverage on Taliban and it could only ask them to hold negotiations to avoid civil war. The Prime Minister emphasised peace in Afghanistan was important for Pakistan to build economic linkages with the Central Asian states. He said: “We neither want any strategic depth nor do we have any favourites or parties in Afghanistan.”
The Premier said Pakistan chose to aid America in the war against terror “but after that, we captured our own people and sent them to Guantanamo Bay — and former president Pervez Musharraf admitted this”. “We sacrificed 70,000 people and wasted $150 billion in the war against terror,” he said, adding after the Tora Bora incident, Al-Qaeda started its operations in Pakistan.
In his wide ranging speech, the Prime Minister invited opposition parties to sit with the government for reforming the electoral process for the sake of future of democracy in Pakistan. “Since the elections in country have been controversial after 1970, we are striving to improve the election process.
“We have proposed election reforms and I will request the opposition to sit with the government, as it pertains to the future of democracy in Pakistan.” Khan also referred to his 21 years of cricketing experience and said the controversies of defeat and victory in the international cricket only ended after the introduction of neutral empires and the support of modern technology.
The Prime Minister also mentioned the campaign of Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) after the 2013 general elections, when his party wanted the audit of four constituencies, but the then government did not accept the demand and later the matter was decided by the court. He said the introduction of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) in elections besides ensuring transparency would also expedite the process of announcement of election results.
Prime Minister Khan further said the government was also ready to listen to the opposition parties if they had any better proposal for election reforms. In his speech, he also spoke on various issues of national importance including his government’s vision of a welfare state, budget, economic and foreign policies challenges.
Opposition members listened to the Prime Minister’s speech patiently. A large number of opposition leaders were not in attendance during the speech.
Lauding Minister for Finance Shaukat Tarin and his team, the Premier said they had presented the budget in line with his vision. “When we had begun our struggle 22 years back we had one aim in mind to build an Islamic welfare state the objective of our founding fathers.” He said if the country stepped back from that aim, there would be no justification for Pakistan’s existence.
On the occasion, the Premier lauded National Command and Operations chief Asad Umar; Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan; the Pakistan Army and others involved in curbing the spread of coronavirus.
Khan said Pakistan’s coronavirus situation was better as compared to countries in the region and it was due to Allah’s blessings and the poor people’s prayers.
The Prime minister urged the people to pay tax honestly as only 2.2 million people out of 220 million pay tax. He said a tax collection target of Rs5,800 billion had been set for the next fiscal year. That, he said, was a stiff target but would be achieved through reforms in the FBR, including its automation. He said wilful tax defaulters would be put into jail.
The Prime Minister said he had waged a struggle for rule of law in the country. He said bringing the powerful people under the ambit of law was important to exploit the country’s true potential.
Paying tribute to the immense sacrifices of oppressed Kashmiri people in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the Prime Minister said the entire Pakistan stood by their Kashmiri brothers and sisters. He once again made it clear diplomatic relations would not be restored with India until it rescinded the illegal steps of August 5, 2019.