LAHORE: Recent Attock incident is condemnable at every level while elimination of terrorism and political stability is inevitable for economic growth of the country. These views were expressed by the experts in Jang Economic Session on ‘Impact of political situation on economic activities’, here on Tuesday. The panellists were Imtiaz Cheema, Ahsan Wayne, Rana Sajjad, Muhammad Ali Mian, and Khurshid Ahmed while hosted by Sikandar Lodhi. Imtiaz Cheema said that economic and social growth of any country depended on political stability while Pakistan always remained politically unstable due to which it was still caught in economic and social issues. He said that public problems could not be resolved without political stability and organised government. He said people’s issues were growing due to lack of government interest in public welfare projects. He said increase in resignation culture was an open example of weak government which needed to be discouraged. Ahsan Wayne said that political stability was only possible when government ensured public security and basic needs of life which lead to economic growth. He said unfortunately, the governments in Pakistan remained unstable due to individualism and self-centric political parties which failed the political system. He said sit-in and resignation politics was negatively affecting the political system. He said Kasur incident and assassination of Punjab Home Minister had tarnished the image of Pakistan in the world. He said the government failed to uproot the curse of terrorism. He believed that China Pakistan Economic Corridor was the only best initiative since when Pakistan created. Rana Sajjad said that political stability was the vital component for economic revival, which would increase exports and investment and improve Pakistan’s image globally and create peace. He said both the government and the opposition should play a positive role to improve political situation. He said recent resignations by the MQM parliamentarians would not negatively affect the economy and politics of Pakistan. Muhammad Ali Mian said that economic stability was impossible without political stability. He said opposition should not do opposition for the sake of opposition, rather play its positive role in economic development. He said government and opposition should evolve 20 years economic plans with the consultation of all stakeholders. He believed that economic revival had started after control on terrorism. Khurshid Ahmed said country was facing terrorism and other social and economic issues. He said due to rapid increase in population unemployment was growing and every year 1.8 million persons required new jobs. He said that if unemployment was not controlled youths would become a social bomb in near future.
