Pledges efforts to cut inflation | Admits allowing Sharif to go abroad as biggest mistake
\nMANDI BAHAUDDIN
\nPrime Minister Imran Khan has said that Pakistan has been put on the right course with record exports, tax collection and remittances by the expatriates.
\nAddressing a public gathering on Friday, the prime minister said that inflation is impacting the common man and the government is trying to ebb away its pressure by reducing taxes and duties on petrol import. Asking journalists to not only tell people about inflation but also tell the nation the reason behind it, Khan blamed the Covid-19 pandemic for the rising inflation, asking what the government could do about rising oil prices in the international markets.<\/p>\n
He said that inflation was at peak during PML-N and PPP tenures and added that inflation was at the highest level in the US and UK in the last 40 years and 30 years, respectively. He promised to reduce inflation and assured people that they would soon see what the government is doing to provide relief.
\nHe said that overseas Pakistanis are the biggest asset and that is why they have been given a right to vote. He said that the agriculture sector is flourishing and the government is standing with farmers.
\nHe said the government has enhanced farmers\u2019 income and ensured timely payments to sugarcane farmers.
\nThe prime minister said the government is bringing about an IT revolution in the country as a 70% rise in IT exports has been recorded. He also said the government is providing interest free loans to the youth and Rs1 million health insurance to every family in Punjab.
\nImran Khan said, \u201cThis is just the beginning and we have to make Pakistan a welfare state with Sehat Card being the biggest step towards it.\u201d He said by March, Sehat Card will be available across Punjab for which the provincial government has allocated Rs400 billion.
\n\u201cFor the first time an independent foreign policy is made in Pakistan,\u201d Imran claimed, saying, \u201cIt means that Pakistan doesn\u2019t take dictation from any foreign country\u201d. Allied countries would attack Pakistan in the past but the then rulers would keep mum, he said, adding that they never spoke against it because their money and assets were abroad.
\n\u201cThey were their slaves and still are,\u201d Khan said, adding that he wouldn\u2019t have said \u201cabsolutely no\u201d on providing bases to a super power if he has assets and businesses abroad.
\nThe prime minister admitted that allowing former premier Nawaz Sharif to go abroad for medical treatment was the biggest mistake of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government. He while referring to Nawaz\u2019s health condition before he was allowed to leave Pakistan said that the government felt that he might not survive for another day.
\nCalling the opposition leaders a gang of thieves and a bouquet of dacoits, the premier revealed that it wasn\u2019t him calling them thieves and dacoits but they themselves have been calling each other thieves and looters for the last three decades. \u201cThey are all afraid,\u201d he said, adding that Maulana Fazlur Rehman is pushing opposition parties to topple the government because he is sensing that PTI would come in power again in 2023.
\nShifting his focus to Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif by calling him a \u201cfaint-hearted man\u201d, the PM said that the latter has lately come to know that the secret of keeping billions of rupees in a peon\u2019s account was not a secret any more.
\nExpressing that Imran Khan couldn\u2019t be bought, the PM said that he would not give NRO \u2013 a deal \u2013 to the opposition like former military ruler Gen (retd) Pervaiz Musharraf did. \u201cThere will be no NRO until you return the country\u2019s looted money,\u201d Imran announced, \u201cI won\u2019t leave them until they return the nation\u2019s money. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pledges efforts to cut inflation | Admits allowing Sharif to go abroad as biggest mistake MANDI BAHAUDDIN Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that Pakistan has been put on the right course with record exports, tax collection and remittances by the expatriates. Addressing a public gathering on Friday, the prime minister said that inflation is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245199,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1136,464,20],"class_list":{"0":"post-245176","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news","9":"tag-growth","10":"tag-pakistan"},"yoast_head":"\n