One year in power: PM vows to eliminate terrorism to pave way for investment

• PM says govt succeeded in achieving economic turnaround.
• Says Pakistan will emerge stronger with collective efforts.
• Opposition even failed to bring up "fake scandal" against govt: PM

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has vowed to eliminate terrorism from the country to pave way for the foreign investment in the country as the PML-N coalition government completed its one year in power.

“We should work in unison instead of pulling each other’s legs,” the premier said while addressing a special session of the federal cabinet meeting in Islamabad.

The premier said his administration stabilised the economy during its one year in power with the help of allies.

Highlighting the economic achievements of the coalition government including significant drop in inflation and key policy rate, the premier praised the cabinet members for the hard work.

“It has been a year, let alone a contentious scandal, opposition even failed to bring up a fake scandal against the government. What could be a greater achievement of yours than this,” he added.

The premier was of the view that the country was on the brink of bankruptcy when he assumed the office one year ago.

He slammed the former ruling party for writing letters to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and urging the global lender not to approve loan for the cash-strapped nation.

The prime minister said that they should have to work hard to provide succour to hapless and financially weaker segments of society with all kind of assistance and compassion especially in the holy month of Ramadan, adding that the government had rolled out Rs20 billion Ramadan package to benefit 4 million deserving families through digital wallets system.

Each family would get Rs5,000 each, thus the new system would shut doors on all kind of allegations of financial mismanagement which had badly marred the functioning of entities like Utility Stores Corporation, he said, terming the relief initiative as ‘quantum jump which will succeed’.

With hard work, the government succeeded in achieving the economic turnaround and steering the country out of the financial straits.

The prime minister said all the macroeconomic indicators were on the high scale and asked the members to work hard with dedication and commitment as these were prerequisite for making Pakistan one trillion economy till the year 2035.

He also thanked leadership of all the coalition partners in the government including PPP, MQM, BAP and IPP for their support in the most difficult times.

“We are the bearers of May 28 achievement and not of May 9,” he said, questioning that a political party who was running a provincial government had written letters to IMF pressing against any agreement with the government.

The prime minister highlighting government’s efforts towards economic stability, expressed the confidence that Rs400 billion tax cases pending for adjudication in various courts would be decided expeditiously as the one by Sindh High Court which provided relief to the government with Rs23 billion.

He underlined the need of plugging Rs850bn losses incurred by the loss-making state owned enterprises terming them as’ bottomless pits’ which needed to be plugged, besides the need to end circular debt in the power sector.

The premier expressed the optimism that with collective efforts, Pakistan would emerge stronger and stressed upon development of a culture of forgiveness, affection and tolerance in the society.

In collaboration with China, Pakistan would launch its first joint astronaut mission soon, he added.

He said the journey was dotted with challenges and difficulties but they would traverse the path towards progress and prosperity.

Dar blames former govt for recent surge in terrorism

Expressing his views, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said when they looked back, during the tenure of Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan’s economy was ranked 24th.

When they took reigns of the government, it was a big challenge due to prevailing economic conditions of the country but through a solid direction and economic policy implementation, Pakistan achieved the economic stability, he added.

The diplomatic isolation was over, Pakistan now became a member of the UNSC for the year 2025-26, he said, adding after a gap of 27 years, multilateral international conferences like SCO and girls education were held in Pakistan

The DPM regretted that the terrorism reversal policy by the government of an opposition party in the past had seen return of the hardcore terrorists and expressed the confidence that through Azm-e-Istehkam, they would eliminate terrorism from the country.

Dar further said that over $20bn investment by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Azerbaijan and other countries in Pakistan would strengthen the country’s economy.

He also highlighted the risks posed by climate change to Pakistan.

FinMin presents overview of economy

Minister for Finance Muhammad Aurangzeb, presenting an overview of the economy, said that Pakistan Stock Exchange had witnessed an increase of 71 percent return while the current account surplus was the highest in the last 20 years.

He apprised that the plans for rightsizing of 43 ministries and their 400 attached departments were afoot, whereas pension reforms and agriculture tax were introduced for the first time.

FBR revenue had surged by 26 percent. The other major steps were the introduction of faceless assessment system which saw revenues up by 60 percent in shortest time, he added.

He said all the international monetary institutions had lauded economic achievements of the incumbent government in Pakistan.

Minister for Power Awais Ahmed Leghari briefed the meeting about the comprehensive reforms, saying that these efforts had resulted in reduction of Rs151 billion industrial cross subsidy. Till February 25, price of per unit had been reduced to Rs4.96 benefitting the consumers and industry alike.

Besides, performance of 104 IPPS was evaluated after which agreements with 14 were reviewed, 5 inefficient IPPs were terminated and agreements for 8 baggase plants had been reached, he added.

These steps resulted in 1,333 billion lifetime savings, he added.

The minister further said that from Bijli Sahulat Package, industries and the consumers were taking maximum benefits, besides a plan was devised to get rid from the circular debt.

He also highlighted the progress on solarization of tubewells in Balochistan province, adding that out of 27,000 tube wells, 4,000 had been converted to solar thus the project would save about Rs100 million losses to power sector in the province.