All have to come on same page for stable Pakistan: PM

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has said that administration, judiciary, parliament or army will have to take decisions in the best interest of the nation and all will have to come on one page for a stable Pakistan. 

During an informal meeting with The News on Monday, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said whether there were problems of governance in the country or issues of national development, these issues would not be solved without cooperation among the institutions. He said that there was a need for close cooperation and harmony among the institutions. He remarked, "We should move forward jointly and for it we would have to make efforts all together."

The premier said, "Our problem is competency and the country needs able and competent people." He said that former prime minister was going well but he was halted sometime through dharna and some lockdown and was entangled in such kind of issues. He said despite all these, the former prime minister kept his focus on basic issues and affairs of national development. He invited the attention of the people towards the issue of loadshedding which was dwindling with the passage of each day. He said that it was the great achievement of the PML-N government to complete decade-old pending projects of Nandipur, Neelam-Jhelum and others. He said the machinery of these projects rusted at Karachi port and demurrage had to be paid and nobody asked why the national capital was wasted.

Prime Minister Abbasi said look at Lowari Tunnel which was started in 1973 during Z A Bhutto era. After 30 years, Mian Nawaz Sharif inaugurated this project after its completion. He said Kutchi Canal project was dysfunctional and many people were made fake payments on acquiring land for Basha Dam 17 years ago. Now the work on Basha Dam resumed, he added.

The premier said that National Highway Authority (NHA) had not worked on any big project from 1999 to 2013, rather the projects which were under progress were also stopped. The prime minster categorically said that the problems of governance could be solved as the process of progress needed unanimity and for it all would have to come on one page. He said that the time had come to forge unity among the institutions by forgetting the bitter realities of the past.