PPP did nothing for Karachi, PML-N focused on upper Punjab: Imran

GHALLANAI/KHAR: Prime Minister Imran Khan Monday said the port city of Karachi was in a whirlpool of problems, as the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) that bagged votes from the interior Sindh did nothing for welfare of its residents.

Addressing the inaugural ceremony of Mamadgat-Munda Road in Mohmand district, he said a similar situation was seen in Punjab where the PML-N government focused on Lahore, leaving the rest of the province unattended.

He said the former rulers pushed country into the morass of loans and built palatial houses abroad from the money looted and parked in the foreign banks. Welcoming peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban, Prime Minister Imran Khan Monday said Pakistan would spare no effort to make the peace process successful, as he believed that progress could not be brought to the region without viable peace.

He said Pakistan would extend all-out support to Afghanistan to bring peace to the war-hit country. He said the challenges facing the ex-Fata were addressed after the merger of these areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. However, he added that some elements were conspiring against the merger for own nefarious designs.

“Such elements don’t want the tribal people to benefit from the merger,” he said. The prime minister also visited Bajaur district where he addressed a gathering of tribal elders at the headquarters of Bajaur Scouts.

Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, Minister for Zakat and Ushar Anwar Zeb Khan, Members National Assembly Gul Zafar Khan and Guldad Khan, Members Provincial Assembly Ajmal Khan and Sirajuddin Khan and a large number of tribal elders were present.

Anwar Zeb Khan and MNA Gul Zafar Khan offered the traditional turban to the prime minister. The prime minister inaugurated the work on the Mamadgat-Munda Road.

He said that business centres would be established along the Pak-Afghan border to promote trade and bring prosperity to this region. Imran Khan said that many people of the tribal districts worked abroad for lack of employment opportunities in their own areas.

He added that the government was committed to creating job opportunities for the people of the merged districts. The prime minister said the merger would help establish the contacts of the tribal people with other parts of the country and it would promote tourism.

He recalled that in the past the people of the ex-Fata would go to other cities to seek education. “We will provide access to the tribal people to benefit from trade relations with the central Asian countries,” he said.

Imran Khan said the government would extend health cards to the people of the merged districts so that they could have access to treatment facilities. He alleged that the previous governments borrowed heavily that left the country under heavy debts, adding he wanted to make Pakistan a state on the model of the Madina State. “We will establish a welfare state, where all the citizens will enjoy equal rights,” he maintained.