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PM terms expats 'heroes of country'

By Agencies
January 23, 2019

DOHA: Describing the overseas Pakistanis as the country’s heroes due to their hard work abroad for their families as well as for the country, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday said his government would steer the country out of difficulties, ensure its economic uplift and bring in pride for the green passport.

“Don’t worry! Your country will become a country where there will be respect for green passport,” the prime minister said while addressing a huge gathering of Pakistani community here at the Al Wakara Stadium.

Imran Khan, who was upbeat over the unprecedented gathering and welcome by the community at the stadium, said he was addressing such a huge a public gathering for the first time after his election rallies.

He said he always loved and respected the overseas Pakistanis, who worked hard even 18 hours a day for feeding their families at home and also contributing to the country’s development.

“When I visited Italy, some young Pakistanis met me. They used to work 18 hours a day and six persons used to share a room to save money. The people, who are working, are considered very close to Allah Almighty,” he remarked.

The prime minister said he had a better understanding about the Pakistani expatriates abroad as he himself went to the United Kingdom at the age of 18, where he studied and used to play cricket as well. He recalled how Pakistani workers at that time were ridiculed and even discriminated racially by some white people, but they used to tolerate and continued to work hard until they succeeded in securing high socio-economic status for them in the Western world.

“Whenever I see overseas Pakistanis working hard abroad, I think that they are special ones, who always think and worry about Pakistan,” he remarked.

The prime minister also lauded the overseas Pakistanis for always supporting him in his fund-raising campaigns for the Shaukat Khanam Hospital, Namal University and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.

“You are the people who work hard and send money to your country. Our country is now being run on your remittances. You are heroes of Pakistan. There are also some villains, who steal the money from the country and launder abroad. My war is against those people,” he stressed.

The prime minister said the devaluation of rupee was also due to money laundering as it caused shortage of dollars in the country that also created the balance of payment problem. Highlighting the economic problems of the country in cricket terms, Imran Khan said when he came to power, there was a situation like he went to bat for Pakistan on 20 runs and four down.

“But I know how to play in pressure,” he said, and added that the partnership of Imran and Miandad had started and they would bring the country out of hard time.

The prime minister said, “This country will turn into one where you will not be required to look for jobs abroad. Allah Almighty created this country on the 27th of Ramazan and bestowed it with His special blessings.” He said Pakistan was blessed with a lot of natural resources and opportunities and the only problem was of governance. “If there is bad governance, the rich countries can turn into poor ones,” he said.

The prime minister said Qatar, which was bestowed with natural resources, also achieved the level of development due to good governance and effective economic management. “There are other countries like Nigeria and Congo which, despite having abundant natural resources, are poor," he added.

He said the Qatari businessmen, who met him during the visit, expressed their keenness to invest in Pakistan and also told him they were earlier shying away from investment due to corruption and heavy taxation in Pakistan. “The present government has scaled down the number of taxes from 36 to 16 only and would further rationalise the tax regime,” he added.

About corruption, he said his was the first government that during its first five months no corruption scandal had emerged and he was confident that none would emerge during the rest of its tenure. He said Malaysia and Turkey were earning $20 billion and $40 billion per annum through beach and historical tourism, respectively. He said Pakistan with its beaches, highest mountain peaks and historical and religious sites had a lot of tourism potential. The prime minister was confident that Pakistan would earn huge amounts of foreign exchange from tourism and the country would not require financial assistance from any country.

Meanwhile, Imran Khan held one-on-one meeting with Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani here at the Diwan-e-Amiri and discussed the bilateral relations as well as trade and economic cooperation between Pakistan and Qatar.

Delegation level talks were also held between the prime minister and emir of Qatar. All issues of bilateral nature, especially the strengthening of economic and trade relations between the two countries, were discussed during the one-on-on and delegation level talks.

The emir of Qatar hosted a lunch for the prime minister and members of the delegation.

Earlier, an official welcome ceremony in the honour of Imran Khan was held at the Diwan-e-Amiri. Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani received the prime minister at Diwan-e-Amiri.

Imran Khan, during his two-day Qatar visit was accompanied by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Finance Minister Asad Umar, Petroleum Minister Ghulam Sarwar, Adviser Abdul Razak Dawood, Special Assistant Syed Zulfiqar Abbas Bukhari, Chairman Board of Investment (BoI) Haroon Sharif, Chairperson Task Force on Energy Nadeem Babar and Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua.

Meanwhile, representatives of Sikh community in Qatar called on Imran Khan and thanked him for the ground-breaking of Kartarpur Corridor, which was the longstanding desire of the Sikh community globally.

They said the prime minister, by laying the foundation stone of Kartarpur Corridor, had won the hearts of Sikh community across the globe.

Meanwhile, Imran Khan condemned the terrorist attack in Afghanistan’s Maidan Wardak province and conveyed his condolences to the people of Afghanistan over the loss of lives.

On his Twitter account, the prime minister said: “My condolences go to the people of Afghanistan at the great loss of life, suffered in the condemnable act of terror in Maidan Wardak province on Monday.” He also prayed for the early return of peace to the war-ravaged neighbouring country.