No threat even if opposition arranges a rally a day: PM Imran Khan

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan Friday said the opposition is free to hold rallies on daily basis as the government feels no threat from the NAB-infected elements.

Addressing the parliamentary party meeting of the PTI and allied parties at the Parliament House, Imran Khan said all the dacoits have gathered again. He said the opposition members are jobless, and there is no need to give them importance.

Sources said the lawmakers of the ruling alliance expressed grave concern over increasing inflation and demanded mechanism to control it. The premier said the government fully understands the situation and will control the situation soon. He said the policies of the past rulers are responsible for the current state of affairs.

The sources said the PTI MNAs declared the performance of the government as poor. PTI MNA Sanaullah Khan Mastikhel rose up and said the government ministers and advisers are worth nothing and they must be prepared to be hit with rotten eggs. He said that there is a serious public concern over gas and electricity, adding that it is becoming difficult for the people to pay their bills.

According to sources, several other members also agreed with Mastikhel’s views. MNA Noor Alam Khan said although the performance of the government team is not satisfactory, but the lawmakers stand by Imran Khan.

Imran said he was aware of all the problems being faced the people and would soon control inflation. Meanwhile, hitting out at the opposition, Prime Minister Imran Khan said that giving an NRO — relief from corruption cases — to his opponents is an “easy path” for him to take, but it is the “path to destruction”.

“We have to make difficult decisions and difficult decisions take us forward,” Imran Khan said while addressing an inauguration ceremony at NUST, Islamabad.

He said the country was "going in the right direction", and that giving an NRO at this moment would be the easy way out from the difficulties he faces as premier. "Many times in life, we havethe choice of walking two different paths. We are encouraged to take the easy way out," he said.

“You wake up in the morning and you have all the dacoits gathered up against you, and (you want to) go for the easy way and compromise,” he said, perhaps hinting at the political choices he faces these days.

The “easy way” is to “forgive them all and give an NRO”. “Our lives will also become easy. We will do speeches in Parliament and three or four years will go by. But, this is the path to destruction,” he warned.

He added that the path to betterment is never easy and people therefore have to make “difficult decisions” that, in the future, define them. Earlier in his address, Imran Khan expressed happiness and congratulated NUST on achieving the feat of producing locally made stents.

The premier said that in Pakistan and the world, “most people die due to heart diseases”, noting that it was an expensive treatment. He said the locally produced stents will benefit the country by saving foreign exchange (by preventing imports) as well as helping treat more poor patients as they will be cheaper in comparison.

“You saved our foreign exchange (reserves) and gave us the opportunity to provide treatment to more poor patients,” Imran Khan told the gathering. The premier noted that exports of the country had fallen, adding that no country can prosper when “dollars go out more” and are “coming less” in the country. He added that, due to this factor, the country has to go to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as the country’s “dollars decrease and reserves deplete”.

“Reserves will fall when there is a trade gap of $40 billion, the pressure will fall on foreign exchange reserves,” he explained. He also added that the same problem also causes inflation in the country.

“If we want to develop our country, more dollars should come in to the country than they go out,” he said. He shared the example of China and Turkey, which he said had prioritised exports, saying that China’s wealth increased when their exports went up.

Imran shared that he had heard speeches of Turkish President Recep Teyyip Erdogan when he took charge as prime minister, in which he had emphasised that increasing exports was the first priority for his country.

The premier also shared that Pakistan's direction had been on course in the ’60s when its exports were increasing. He added that in the '70s, the country got confused with socialism or Islamic socialism.

“The direction now needs to be corrected again and the mindset needs to be fixed. The challenge we face is that government departments need to be told that they have to go on this direction,” explained Imran Khan. Addressing the students, Imran urged them to recognise their potential, because if that is not done, they will end up underselling themselves.

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