Imran during first visit to Turbat
\nImran Khan announced increase in scholarships for Balochistan students
\nMonitoring Desk
\nQUETTA\/TURBAT
\nPrime Minister Imran Khan in his first-ever visit to the city in southern Balochistan on Friday announced that the number of scholarships to students would be doubled, saying elevating the province and helping it progress was a \u201cpart of [his] imaan [faith]\u201d.
\nSpeaking at the foundation stone-laying ceremony of development projects in Turbat, PM Imran Khan underlined that the city had a history and that its people were \u201cthe future of Pakistan\u201d.
\n\u201cI have come to Turbat for the first time,\u201d he mentioned, before talking about the importance of education for [the] development of the people and cities, as well as his government\u2019s increased focus on Balochistan, as opposed to the prior administrations.
\n\u201cKnowledge,\u201d he said, \u201cmakes humans unique from other creatures. No society has progressed without education.
\n\u201cToday, we are left behind and the areas that are left behind are less educated,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u2018Balochistan\u2019s politicians put their own selves first\u2019
\nThe premier underscored that \u201cBalochistan never received as much funding as our government [provided to the province]\u201d and that it lagged behind due to a lack of funding in the past.
\n\u201cWe will help Balochistan in every possible way,\u201d PM Imran Khan vowed, adding that his government would assist the province especially in the field of education.
\nThe premier noted that prior regimes \u201cdid not need votes from Balochistan and formed governments if they got enough votes from Punjab and Sindh or Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa\u201d.<\/p>\n
Not for politics or votes but \u2018part of my imaan\u2019
\nPM Imran Khan spoke of how leaders in the past made more trips to London and Dubai than to Balochistan in their tenures. \u201cThat\u2019s why the attention that Balochistan needed was not given to it,\u201d he stated. He stressed that he was in Turbat neither on a political trip nor for votes but because \u201cthis is a part of my imaan [faith] that a people never progress unless and until they bring forward with them the weaker portion of the society\u201d.
\n\u201cThis is what our Holy Prophet (PBUH) through his state of Madinah provided as a model. The world\u2019s first welfare state was set up there and then, China, too, proved how in 30 years, it pulled 700 million people out of poverty and simultaneously became a superpower.
\n\u201cOne of the major reasons behind China\u2019s CPEC [China-Pakistan Economic Corridor] was that it wanted to connect western China \u2014 which had lagged behind \u2014 to the sea through the CPEC so that it could progress rapidly as well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u2018Prime minister is like a father of the nation\u2019
\nPM Imran Khan praised the Chinese leadership for its vision and for understanding that no country or people could progress if a small faction of the population becomes wealthy and the rest of the society got left behind.
\n\u201cThat\u2019s why our goal in elevating Balochistan is not just that I announce projects here and \u2014 how it happened in the past \u2014 I clap and leave, but I reiterate that it\u2019s a part of my imaan [faith] that since Balochistan was left behind, we will try our best to elevate Balochistan to bring it to the level the rest of Pakistan is at,\u201d he said.
\nPunjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar listens as Prime Minister Imran Khan speaks at University of Turbat in Turbat, Pakstan, November 13, 2020. Geo News\/via Geo.tv
\nThe premier said a \u201ccountry is home\u201d and \u201cthe prime minister is like a father of the nation\u201d who has to see to it that he treats all the children equally in their progress.
\n\u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019m very happy that the chief minister of Punjab [Usman Buzdar] is here with us today and he, too, invested in Balochistan\u2019s university and hospital.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s like an elder brother is trying to help out his younger brother and this is how the country progress.
\n\u201cThe way people benefited from Balochistan\u2019s deprivation, they had other goals, they were successful in creating divisions because they conveyed to the people an impression as to what was the benefit of becoming part of Pakistan.<\/p>\n
World \u2018fearful\u2019 of China\u2019s progress
\n\u201cI want to tell you all today that Balochistan becoming a part of Pakistan, God willing, will benefit you beyond your imagination right now.
\n\u201cThe first thing is the connectivity with China and remember that the country that\u2019s progressing the fastest in the world is China, of which the rest of the countries are scared.
\n\u201cThey are fearful of its progress. That\u2019s because China, in a few years, will leave behind the rest of the world.
\nThe premier said Pakistan was lucky for being connected to China and Balochistan lucky because it had Gwadar.
\n\u201cGwadar will connect to China and think of China\u2019s trade \u2014 $2,000 billion \u2014 as opposed to Pakistan\u2019s exports, which, at the moment, amount to a mere $25 billion,\u201d he underlined.<\/p>\n
Internet facilities in Balochistan\u2019s far-off areas
\nThe PM said the \u201cnew revolution coming in the world\u201d was crucial for the youth and Pakistan had a young population. \u201cSo, to obtain the most benefit from the information communication technology, it was necessary for us to provide Internet facilities to Balochistan\u2019s far-off areas,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cI want to assure you completely of our efforts for poor households and the salaried people \u2014 who do not have enough money to build their own houses \u2014 we\u2019re bringing the Naya Pakistan Housing Scheme here in Balochistan as well, God willing,\u201d he said.
\nHe explained that the Naya Pakistan Housing Scheme would offer loans for five-marla houses at 5% interest rate, regardless of whether it shot up in the market or not \u201cin order to allow people to have their own houses by repaying installments over 10 or 15 years\u201d the same way they paid rent.
\n\u201cAll of these things are happening for the first time in Pakistan, just like I spoke of the Ehsaas Programme, through which Rs200 billion \u2014 which is called poverty alleviation \u2014 was spent and [it wasn\u2019t ever done] before in Pakistan\u2019s history, especially at a time when our economic situation is worse,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n
\u2018God was benevolent\u2019 to Pakistan
\nPM Imran Khan counted Pakistan\u2019s victories, saying the economy was improving, deficits reducing, and no loan obtained in the past four months.
\n\u201cFor the first time in 17 years, Pakistan \u2014 which was going into deficit \u2014 went into surplus in only one quarter, meaning that this was our gain, a huge achievement of our government because as long as there\u2019s a deficit between the income and expenditure, a country cannot progress as it has to get loans,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cLet me tell you another thing: In the past four months, Pakistan did not obtain a single loan in the past four months and this, too, is a major achievement.
\n\u201cToday, I thank God, we\u2019re selling record cement [industry] because we started construction activity in Pakistan, there have been record sales. Structural Iron [foundation] started being sold, sales of vehicles and motorcycles are rising.
\n\u201cOur economy was stagnant \u2014 in the same condition as India is in right now, their economy has crashed \u2014 ours, however, thank God, is rising despite the coronavirus [pandemic].
\n\u201cPakistan\u2019s stock market is the best performing one in Asia and what I want to say is that despite all these challenges, God was benevolent to us, our policies were successful and our country is progressing today.<\/p>\n
Virtual education in days of pandemic
\nThe PM said the government would invest in the poor sections of the society as Pakistan\u2019s incomes grows and money comes in \u2014 \u201cthe same way that China did\u201d.
\nThe prime minister also noted that virtual education started in the days of the coronavirus pandemic. \u201cIt is no longer necessary to study in cities,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cScholarships for male and female students of Balochistan are being increased from 185 to 360,\u201d he announced.<\/p>\n
Makran Teaching Hospital
\nEarlier in the day, Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar had said PM Imran Khan would announce a \u201chistorical development package\u201d for Turbat during his one-day visit to the city. \u201cThe projects were finalised after months of hard-work by a dozen ministers,\u201d he wrote on Twitter.
\nThe PM, who was scheduled to meet notables of the area, was accompanied by federal ministers Shibli Faraz, Murad Saeed, and Ghulam Sarwar Khan, apart from Umar, as well as lawmaker Aamir Mahmood Kiani, Special Assistant on Poverty Alleviation Dr Sania Nishtar, and National Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri.
\nPM Imran was also expected to lay the foundation stone of the 200-bed Makran Teaching Hospital in Turbat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Imran during first visit to Turbat Imran Khan announced increase in scholarships for Balochistan students Monitoring Desk QUETTA\/TURBAT Prime Minister Imran Khan in his first-ever visit to the city in southern Balochistan on Friday announced that the number of scholarships to students would be doubled, saying elevating the province and helping it progress was a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156112,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-156085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-top-news"],"yoast_head":"\n