PM Imran launches Kifaalat programme, says govt won't neglect the poor

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday launched the government's Kifaalat programme, saying that his government would not neglect the poor. 

The prime minister was speaking during the inauguration ceremony of the programme, which seeks to empower seven million underprivileged women across the country. 

"There's a huge number of people who undergo challenges, who face difficulties in feeding their children. Setting up this system was necessary for money to go to them," the premier said. 

"There are two things very important for women. Those of them who are in the weakest sector, opening a bank account is very important. It's an amazing thing [because] the money that was stolen won't be anymore.

"Secondly, those bringing the card can buy from the utility stores and we can provide for them through utility stores as the system goes ahead," he said.

He said that his government's primary aim is to make sure the downtrodden who were previously neglected, are taken care of by the state. PM Imran said it was his mission to"make Pakistan the state that it should have been". 

The prime minister recalled how Pakistan was on the path to development and progress when he was growing up. "I keep saying this over and over [that] there’s one reason why Pakistan was progressing fast in the 1950s, there's one reason why we couldn’t reach that place.

"This land has God-given resources, the people are talented, the people do a lot but the country didn’t go ahead, it was left behind. The biggest reason is that no country can progress where there are a few rich people and a sea of poor.

"A country progresses when its rich uplift the poor. China did that for its 700 million people in 30 years," he said, referring to Pakistan's economic and trade ally that is also part of the giant infrastructure and business project, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).