Imran unveils PTI manifesto

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Monday unveiled the party's manifesto for the July 25 general election, pledging to create 10 million jobs and build five million low-cost housing units.

The 59-page manifesto — Road to Naya Pakistan — carries the PTI’s vision: our achievements and lessons from governing Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which also includes enactment of 168 laws in the province.

The document was unveiled at a local hotel. Imran candidly conceded that at the outset whoever formed the government after the July 25 elections would be facing the biggest economic challenge ever.

The manifesto aims at bringing accountability to the core of government, empowering the grassroots through local government, depoliticising and strengthening police, reforming the criminal justice system and providing speedy access to justice, reforming the civil service, institutionalising, introducing e-governance practices in public administration, facilitating delivery through legislative reform (Right to Information, Right to Services), reforming government procurement and ensuring press freedom.

The manifesto says the PTI’s defence and security policy will be made multi-dimensional to deal with the emerging nature of threats at multiple levels, especially the enmeshed internal and external dimensions of the threat of terrorism.

It says the PTI will move substantially on the bilateral strategic dialogue with India, encompassing all aspects of the strategic nuclear deterrence so as to prevent a spiraling nuclear arms race in the region.

“The PTI will push for the principle of non-discrimination of all arms control and disarmament measures, including global nuclear disarmament.” Imran said to deal with the great challenge of water crisis, the nation will have to be taken into confidence and consensus evolved on building reservoirs.

“We shall have to adopt a holistic approach, as making only Kalabagh Dam would not address the issue,” he said. Imran said Pakistan’s debt had hit Rs27,000 billion from Rs6,000 billion in just 10 years, which underscored the need for striking a balance between income and expenditure.

He conceded that one of the few failures of their government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was failure to put an effective Ehtesab commission in place. The manifesto envisages key areas and challenges through headlines and PTI policies and strategies are explained to be adopted by the party, if voted to power.

It also carries images of Imran, the Quaid-e-Azam and Allama Muhammad Iqbal. Imran contended that the main thrust would be on dealing with the alarming economic situation and spending on human development. He promised to bring down the tax ratio to expand the tax net and said winning confidence of the people that their tax money would be spent on them would encourage them to pay taxes.

He again referred to the Medina charter and said that the law should treat all equally. Regarding the Pakistan-China Economic Corridor, he insisted that it was a big challenge as well as a big opportunity and could become a game-changer, but it would require proper homework, which had not been done so far.

He explained how they would be able to generate 10 million jobs and singled out the low-cost housing scheme as one major source of livelihood. Imran emphasised that the PTI would reform the state institutions, including the Federal Board of Revenue, the National Accountability Bureau and the Federal Investigation Agency, and combat corruption to collect revenue and spend on human development besides depoliticising the bureaucracy.

He was of the view that an independent foreign policy was possible only through economic revival, as whosoever would lend money, would dictate. “We shall simultaneously work on an independent foreign policy and improve our economy,” he maintained. He said the reason for non-realisation of Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline was that the donors were opposed to it.

"We will introduce an apolitical model of policing like the one in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the rest of the provinces as well. And to ensure that Pakistanis get instant and quality justice, we will introduce comprehensive judicial reforms," he said.

He explained major issues of all the regions would be resolved, saying, "We will bring prominent changes to the administrative structure in Karachi, ensure successful completion of Fata's merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and allocate specific funds for it, promote politics of understanding in Balochistan, raise the movement of south Punjab province.

Imran said his party would safeguard national security and defeat the terrorists' narrative, human resources, finances and weaponry to tackle the internal threats the country faces.

“We will act against hate/speech and violence towards minorities, ensuring constitutional rights of minorities,” it says.

The PTI will make Pakistan business-friendly and put it in the top 100 economies of the world in terms of doing business in five years as per the World Bank, revive manufacturing and facilitate rapid growth of small and medium enterprises.

The PTI will turn around the state-owned enterprises, creating a fund, and push for aggressive depoliticisation through effective performance management.

The party will fix Pakistan’s energy challenge, solve circular debt issue by reducing transmission and distribution losses and implement a plan to harness natural resources towards a greener energy mix.

“The PTI will unleash Pakistan’s potential in agriculture, give incentives to farmers, enhance profitability and boost growth rate. We shall optimise existing subsidy programmes, reduce input costs, incentivise value addition and revamp livestock sector."

He also delineated his party's environmental agenda, saying that they would plant 10 billion trees to tackle environmental changes.

As regards education, Imran said a national commission for education standards would be established that would issue a revised minimum standards list within six months of its constitution and initiate national dialogue and technical consultations on a policy to teaching of languages at each level of education.

Imran noted that the PTI would launch a ‘Teach for Pakistan’ effort to bring high quality talent into the public system besides launching a nation-wide literacy programme to engage 50,000 youth volunteers to improve literacy in exchange for university credits.

Regarding water resources, Imran said, “We will expedite construction of Diamer-Basha dam and speed up feasibility studies of other dams. We will build small dams across Pakistan to conserve water and fulfill local demand”.

The PTI’s youth policy will comprise three Es — Education, Employment and Engagement. “Our policy will ensure that we create a group of educated, skilled young people that are invested in making Pakistan a great nation,” he said.

He pointed out that Pakistan is experiencing a youth bulge, with over 63% of the population under age 25. Out of these, 43 million are currently between ages 15-24. However, this population faces constraints of poor education and skills.