PESHAWAR: Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal said on Monday that Operation Raddul Fasaad has broken the back of terrorists and all state institutions are on the same page against terrorism.
Speaking at a press conference, Iqbal said that before the start of military operation, Pakistan was hostage to terrorists. “There was not a single day when five to six people were not martyred. Today the terrorists target innocent civilians in one-off incidents” he said.
The interior minister said that unfortunately few people are spreading disappointment among the people of Pakistan for their political motives, adding that these people want to snatch self-confidence from the nation.
“We took the energy crisis as a challenge, and next year we will be successful in putting 10,000 megawatts of electricity in our system,” he said. “In 2013 surveys, 70 to 80 per cent of people used to say the coming days will be worse for them, today the same people hope that the coming days will be better than the previous ones.”
He said that government policies need peace and stability so we should ensure no one disturbs our law and order.
Iqbal lamented that nowadays people are taking potshots at the government over corruption.
He claimed that according to Transparency International, India has more corruption cases compared to Pakistan but the economic progress of the neighbouring country is due to the better security situation.
“Governments that are corrupt don’t initiate development projects [but] we have opened a university in FATA, we are going to launch 5G, and we are putting fiber optic with China to enhance our IT sector," said Iqbal, who also holds the portfolio of the planning and development ministry.
He said that those who criticise Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz on making roads should know that without roads people of the country cannot have access to health and education.
Iqbal called the demand to have elections on the older census ‘childish’.
He said that certain quarters are trying to create doubts over the next general elections, adding that, “It is important that political parties should ensure timely elections for the transfer of power”.
He also demanded the Supreme Court toa take suo motu notice of the Paradise Papers leak.