Kafaalat Programme launch: PM Imran says laying foundation for state of Madina

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan said initiatives such as the Ehsaas Kafaalat Programme were part of the effort to lay foundation for the 'state of Madina' — a goal he has promised to achieve ever since coming into power.

Addressing the Ehsaas Kafaalat Programme's launching ceremony here in the federal capital, PM Imran said divine blessing from God was necessary for an initiative to succeed. "I'm very happy that there's now a proper system being developed," he added.

"There's a huge number of people who undergo challenges, who face difficulties in feeding their children. Setting up this system was necessary for money to go to them," the premier noted.

"There are two things very important for women. Those of them who are in the weakest sector, opening a bank account is very important. It's an amazing thing [because] the money that was stolen won't be anymore.

"Secondly, those bringing the card can buy from the utility stores and we can provide for them through utility stores as the system goes ahead," he said.

The prime minister stressed that his primary goal was to "make Pakistan the state that it should have been" from the start, "a state that takes responsibility for that [poor] group that the world has forgotten and left behind".

He reminisced about how the country was growing when it was in its infancy. "I keep saying this over and over [that] there’s one reason why Pakistan was progressing fast in the 1950s, there's one reason why we couldn’t reach that place.

"This land has God-given resources, the people are talented, the people do a lot but the country didn’t go ahead, it was left behind. The biggest reason is that no country can progress where there are a few rich people and a sea of poor.

"A country progresses when its rich uplift the poor. China did that for its 700 million people in 30 years," he said, referring to Pakistan's economic and trade ally that is also part of the giant infrastructure and business project, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

There's also the example of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), of the state of Madina, PM Imran added. "Muslims were poor but when he set up a welfare state, that made its foundation, Muslims became a nation for 300 years after that," he said.

"The Holy Quran advises us to learn from them. That’s why Pakistan didn’t progress… because we left them [the poor and the underprivileged] behind. There was no education for them, no hospitals, we didn’t take care of their health or their food, they weren't provided justice.

But the prime minister vowed to improve the state of affairs.

"We will change it, that’s the meaning of Naya Pakistan, where we'll take responsibility for the lower-class group," he said, terming the Ehsaas Kafaalat Programme the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government's "biggest accomplishment".

When people do not have money to get the required medical treatment, that, he said, was the "biggest crime of society".

"Where a man is in pain, his children are in pain, his mother is in pain, when there’s sickness in a poor family, it becomes an even bigger challenge as they already face difficulties in feeding themselves. The entire family takes a hit," he said.

However, with the country moving towards a better and bright future, he said it paved way for the "welfare state towards which we are going".

"It will be the Pakistan of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Allama Iqbal," he added.