Clean and Green Pakistan drive kicks off: Pakistan to be cleaner than Europe in next five years: Imran

ISLAMABAD: Launching the ‘Clean and Green Pakistan’ campaign at a local college by sweeping the lawn and disposing of garbage, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday expressed the hope that Pakistan would be cleaner than Europe in the next five years.

The campaign was launched to tackle the challenges of increasing pollution and global warming.

He also planted a sapling on the college premises. Referring to a study, Imran khan said excessive pollution shortens life expectancy by an average of 11 years. The prime minister recalled the countrywide remarkable role played by the students for raising funds for the Shaukat Khanum Hospital (SKH) and urged them to replicate the same dedication for this drive.

He urged students to spearhead the movement as they held the key to the future and it is imperative to tackle global warming.

He said besides cleanliness, enhancement of green cover is equally essential, as Pakistan is the seventh country most affected by the global warming. He reminded the students that after successful completion of billion tree tsunami in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the government has launched a five-year 10 billion tree tsunami across the country.

He said glaciers would be depleting fast if the world failed to tackle the challenge of global warming. He expressed the hope that after plantation of 10 billion trees the country’s weather pattern would change altogether.

The prime minister expressed concern over the polluted rivers in the country and the alarming levels of pollution in Lahore, particularly in the winter.

The prime minister said the cleanliness drive would not remain confined to posh areas but would also cover the slums. He reiterated his government’s plan to regularise and provide housing to the slum dwellers as well as provide them with sewerage system. The drive would also include construction of landfills in all areas to ensure proper disposal of garbage, he said.

Speaking about pollution in Pakistan, Imran said, “we are littering our country, polluting our rivers. The level of pollution is high in the Punjab. We are seventh on the list of countries most affected by global warming”. Adviser to the Prime Minister Malik Amin Aslam said the drive would be funded by both the government as well as the donors.