18th Amendment causes many issues: PM

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has said ‘we are facing many issues after the 18th Constitutional Amendment while the economy is moving in the right direction’.

In an interaction with former diplomats and journalists here, the prime minister maintained that the rates of commodities should be same across the country and pointed out when a decision was made in China, it was implemented everywhere in the country. However, he noted that the price of wheat should also be same in the country but it was different in Punjab and Sindh. As regards himself and his cabinet members, PM Imran said that his team and he were clear in their direction.

The prime minister emphasised that there was a need for reforms but there were issues and if the government did not want to go for reforms, everything was fine. He continued there was a great need for reforms and for reforms, legislation was required and when the government managed to get through the National Assembly a bill, it got stuck in the Senate, as a two-thirds majority is needed for key legislation and his party and allies were still not in majority there.

Regarding the Afghanistan situation, he said the whole world was now agreeing with Pakistan’s view on Afghanistan. He continued that except the United States, with regard to Afghanistan, all countries, including Russia and China, agreed that the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan should be stopped and their assets should be restored.

He said that the United States also understood if the situation in Afghanistan worsened, it would have repercussions on the United States as well.

Speaking on Pakistan-China relations, he said that the relations between Pakistan and China had become stronger after his recent visit to China and noted China had assured cooperation in a number of projects.

The prime minister said that the political landscape of the world is changing rapidly. “The situation in the world has changed drastically since I visited China two years ago. This visit was very important in this regard,” he maintained. Asked about the delay in the Gwadar Power Plant project, he said that China stopped work on the project due to the coronavirus. Owing to corona, the Chinese president held these recent meetings for the first time in two years. “We are waiting for the decision of the top leadership of China, without whose consent nothing is possible. The recent visit has finally settled many issues,” he noted.

Imran Khan said that reconciling economic issues and national interest had been a major problem in the last three years and ‘we are trying to reconcile it by holding regular meetings’. He added that the meeting was important in China because the meeting had not been held for two years and China had adopted an unusual strategy regarding corona. He said, “When I went to watch the winter games, after China, most of the Pakistanis came there, which is a reflection of our deep ties.”

To a question on special economic zones, PM Imran said that it was at the discretion of the provinces and after the 18th Amendment, the decision-making process had been fractured. Owing to lack of synergy between the federation and the provinces, Chinese businesses had also faced difficulties in Pakistan.

With regard to the strategic direction of the country, he said his team and Pindi and he were also clear to establish our relationship with everyone. “We did not want to come to this position which would suddenly give the impression that we have become part of a camp,” he said.

The manner in which Pakistan had dealt with the corona pandemic and China's special focus on Pakistan's positive economic indicators, was appreciated by all including the Chinese president during his recent visit to China.

PM Imran noted that he was severely criticised for not going for the lockdown and even efforts were made to get registered FIRs against him. The people came out against it, India's growth rate also went down to minus 6 percent, but Pakistan came out of this situation successfully.

Imran Khan said, “I had a detailed discussion with Russian President Vladimir Putin two years ago, and when he tweeted against the abuse of freedom of expression, I praised him, then the Russian president called me and said that there are 35 million Muslims in Russia, there is no problem of Islamophobia here. On my recent visit to China, a ceremony was held in the largest mosque there.”

The premier said, “We are now trying to establish better relations with China even in the private sector. China has succeeded even without democracy, because there is a concept of merit and accountability and this is the reason for Xi Jinping's fame. He held more than 400 high-ranking officials accountable, and the way he overcame poverty is an example to all.”

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday said that there is "no other alternative to Taliban in Afghanistan," so the "only option the world has right now is to engage with the Taliban for things to move forward."

In an exclusive interview with Fareed Fareed Zakaria for CNN, the premier talked about Pakistan's diplomatic relations with the new Taliban government in Afghanistan, the current state of the war on terror, and other issues.

PM said that sooner or later, the Taliban will have to be recognised by the world as it is about the well-being and future of about 40 million Afghans.

"Forty million people in Afghanistan are in dire straits because of the ongoing situation in the country," the premier said, adding that the people of the United States should understand that disliking the Taliban government is one thing but thinking about the welfare of the Afghans is another as they are facing "extreme difficulties." "Afghanistan is on the verge of experiencing the worst humanitarian crisis," PM Imran Khan said. "Considering the circumstances, is there any other alternative to the Taliban in Afghanistan? No, there isn't."

The premier questioned how would it be beneficial for the people of Afghanistan if the Taliban government is overthrown.

"Therefore, the only alternative we have is to work with the Taliban government [for the sake of the Afghans] because turning the Taliban away would only lead to chaos in the country," PM Imran Khan reiterated.

Answering a question, the PM said that Pakistan already has three million Afghan refugees so the country does not have the capacity to accept more.

"The Afghan people are being severely affected by the non-recognition of the Taliban government and the freezing of their banking system," the premier said.

He went on to say that the United States' War on Terror (WoT) backfired and increased the number of terrorists worldwide, adding that because of the war, there had been extensive casualties in Pakistan as more than 80,000 Pakistani citizens lost their lives during the war.

"Pakistan had to bear the brunt of the war in Afghanistan by witnessing numerous suicide attacks," he said. "The US must reconsider its policy on carrying out drone attacks."

When questioned about China's treatment of Uyghur Muslims, PM Imran Kahn said that Pakistan's ambassador to China Moinul Haq had visited the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR) and said that the situation over there is "not what the Western media portrays."

The premier said that a comparison of Pakistan's condemnation of India committing genocide of innocent people in occupied Kashmir and the issue of Xinjiang is not fair. "Occupied Kashmir is a disputed territory between Pakistan and India and India is ruled by an RSS ideology," the premier said. "Until the Kashmir issue is resolved, the fear of war between the two nuclear powers will remain intact." He said, “Indian atrocities in IIJOJ&K are going on unabated and the world must take notice of it.

Speaking to the former diplomats, and journalists, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that the prime minister visited China after a gap of two years, “so we wanted our clear messages and concerns to reach them, and through this visit the messages and concerns from both sides were clearly reiterated and updated.” He said that the visit also removed the unrealistic impression that CPEC was suffering from slowness. The prime minister had made some concrete decisions before leaving for the visit. He added that the indications received from China on this visit were showing great positive things.

The foreign minister said that there was complete harmony in the thinking of Pakistan and China regarding Afghanistan. During the visit, the prime minister had a detailed discussion in this regard and the roadmap for the future was also decided.

He announced to go to China again in March for which two meetings on Afghanistan had been fixed, in which they would consider what China and Pakistan could do together to solve the problems of Afghanistan.

Qureshi said that during the visit, the prime minister had about 20 meetings with 22 Chinese public and private companies which are interested in investing in Pakistan.

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said that the perception that CPEC was suffering from slowdown was wrong. He explained that earlier there were 7 working groups which were now 11 and by 2018, two projects were completed which are now seven in three and a half years.

He continued that 415km of roads had been constructed by 2018 while now 453km had been completed in three and a half years of PTI government while the total number of new projects till 2018 was 17 in which 20 new projects had been added after the recent visit to China.

Fawad said that the power generation was 3,440MW but in these three and a half years 5,864MW of electricity had been added while till 2018 there was not a single transmission line whereas now 880km transmission line had been laid.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan, while commenting on the Mian Channu incident, said his government had zero tolerance for anyone taking the law into their own hands and mob lynching would be dealt with full severity of the law.

In a tweet, Prime Minister appreciated the Wildlife Department for rescuing two leopard cats and wrote, “I commend our Wildlife dept for rescuing two leopard cats and releasing them back in the Margalla Hills National Park. We are committed to protecting wildlife and promoting tourism in Pakistan”. A video clip of the two cats being released in the wild was also shared on his Twitter account.