ISLAMABAD: Addressing for the first time to the nation after swearing in as prime minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan on Sunday deliberated on how Pakistan got stuck under huge debt and how to get out of it.
The Prime Minister first thanked those who stood by him in his political struggle, saying: “I want to thank all my supporters who have been with me on this journey for the last 22 years. I did not want to pursue politics as a career, but as a means to make this country what it should have been.
“I salute all those workers who have stood by me in the most difficult of times. Who bore ridicule to support me … I could not have been here without you,” Imran said.
Expressing remorse over lavish lifestyle of former rulers, he suggested that we should adopt simple lifestyle to avoid heavy expenditures.
Vowing to make Pakistan an Islamic welfare state, he requested masses to bring change in their lives.
Calling Quran as his fundamental and eternal guide, he said the laws stated in the Holy Quran were adopted by the developed nations of the contemporary world.
Citing examples from life of Holy Prophet (SAWW) and lives of Muslim leaders during the Quroon-e-Uoola, he said merit was promoted, zakat was deducted and stress was given on education.
In a highly anticipated address to the nation, Imran lamented Pakistan’s economic woes, saying the debt had soared to a staggering Rs28,000 billion. “We have a scenario where more than half of the country cannot afford two-time meal. The country’s debt has reached an alarming level. We are heading towards destruction,” he added.
“In Pakistan, our ruling elite is living a luxurious life. Prime Minister of Pakistan has more than 524 servants. The prime minister uses 80 vehicles. The prime minister, which is me, also has 33 bulletproof cars. We have helicopters and aero planes to fly us. We have massive governor houses and every conceivable luxury. We have rest houses, chief minister houses, secretaries and DCs and commissioners. They live in big houses,” he said.
On one side, our nation is debut and on the other hand, there is ruling elite who has luxurious lifestyle. A prime minister spends 650 million on foreign visits. Why do they such expensive visits? Why do they achieve? Do they go there to conquer countries?
The prime minister referred to a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report and said Pakistan was included in top five countries with a worsening human development index.
“Our children are malnourished; stunted growth does not even allow their brains to develop properly. This is the case of 45 per cent of the children of Pakistan,” he added.
The PTI chairman requested overseas Pakistanis to bring some money into Pakistani banks as the country needed their help to get through the difficult time.
Imran also called on the public to pay taxes, vowing to protect public’s money. “Only eight lac people pay tax out of a population of more than 200 million. We have a great system of Zakat to follow that can be linked to progressive taxation where people pay according to their ability to pay.
“I assure you…. pay taxes and we will protect your money. We will ensure that the money collected through taxes is used for the welfare of our citizens.”
The prime minister also announced to repurpose the Prime Minister’s House, saying he wanted to construct a university in order to facilitate research work.
“I will live in the house of my military secretary. It’s a three-room residence. I will have only three servants. We will sell all the cars through auction. We have decided to set up a committee of experts to decide what to do with governor houses. Nobody will live in governor house,” Imran told the nation in his first address.
The Prime Minister House will be converted into a top world-class university. We will also form a task form under Dr Ishrat Hussain to make suggestions to cut spending.
People should realize that we have to change our mindset. We need a new mindset in naya Pakistan. We have to save the money and spend it on the most underprivileged section of society.
No country can grow or progress through loans. The loan cane be acquired for a short period. We cannot last forever through loans. When we get loans, we compromise our self respect and integrity.
“I will feel ashamed of begging to foreign countries for loans. Inshahullah, I have to make the nation stand on its feet. We have to become a great nation. No nation can become great through begging bowls. We have to collect money,” he said.
Only 800, 000 pay taxes in a country of 220 million. We have to introduce reforms in FBR. I will spend taxes only on people. “It is your responsibility to pay taxes. When you evade taxes, you cause harm to your own country,” he said. “The tax will be like giving Zakat.
Imran said that the government is setting up a high-powered Task Force to bring back money laundered to foreign countries from Pakistan. He asked the people not to vote for a party leader whose businesses are based in foreign countries and then he come back to rule this country.
“We have to increase our exports. We have made a business advisory councils to facilitate investors and business community and remove hurdles they face to export their items. We have to develop small and medium industries,” Imran said.
“We have to deliver a message to our foreign missions that they need to help overseas Pakistanis to facilitate them. We will help our people who have been languishing in jails in other countries,” he said.
About crackdown on corruption, Imran said that it was the biggest problem of the country. “I will hold a meeting with NAB’s chairman. We will provide him all the resources he needs at his disposal to go after corrupt elements. We will go after crooks everywhere. The corrupt elements will make a lot of noise but rest assured that you have to stand by me,” he said.
About reforms, he said he will meet Chief Justice and sit with him. “We will introduce judicial reforms to make sure that every case is settled within one year. I will request the chief justice to take up cases of widows at the earliest. When I first came into politics, a woman wrote a letter to me with her blood that she had no access to justice,” he said.
About the police reforms, the Prime Minister said that the government has to fix the police system. The crime rate has come down in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa due to police reforms. Nasir Durrani, who was our police chief in KP, had led the reforms police. Police is a provincial subject. We cannot directly intervene, but we are ready to work with them to fix the police. We have to address the issue of child abuses.
Imran Khan has said that Education remains top priority of his government. The standard of education at government-run schools is very poor. “We know how middle class suffers due to lack of quality education in government schools. We will declare education emergency. We will not forget children who are enrolled in seminaries. We have to make sure that students studying in madrasses also become doctors and engineers,” the Prime Minister said.
About health, Imran Khan said that the government will change the management system of government hospitals. “We have to fix the health system. We have made a task force which will review it. We will introduce health cards across Pakistan. The poor can go to any hospital and get himself/herself treatment through health insurance, he said.
He said Karachi is facing acute water shortage. There is no water in Karachi. Situation is same in Quetta and Islamabad. We will guide farmers to save water. But it is inevitable to at least construct one dam. Bhasha dam must be built at soon as possible. The government will raise funds to construct Bhasha Dam.
He said if civil service doesn’t execute government’s reforms, how are we going to resolve our issues. There was time when our civil services was one of the world’s best. Dr Ishrat Hussain will carry out reforms in civil services. There will be no political interference. We will give you complete respect. The common man needs to be respected by the civil servants. We will give bonuses to departments which perform well and those who don’t will be penalized.
“We have to plant billions of saplings across Pakistan. We took the initiative in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. We have to replicate this in rest of the country. We will run new campaign to plant trees with the help of our youth,” he said. NNI
