NAROWAL: The country’s economy can crash if the prevailing political instability continues to exist, said Minister for Interior Ahsan Iqbal on Sunday.
Speaking to journalists and traders here, Iqbal, who is also the minister for planning and development, said that political instability in the country was being created to hinder Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) from gaining victory in the upcoming general elections. “Politics and democracy should be given space in the country as politicians are the advocates of people,” he said, adding that it is because of them that Pakistan has come back on the path of progress, with development projects with billions currently in the pipeline.
The minister said the accumulation of weapons is useless unless the country is economically strong, and stressed the need for an improved economy to battle competition in the region.
Reminiscing the ruling party’s start of tenure, he said the world viewed Pakistan as a dangerous country a few years earlier. “We were given charge of a miserable situation due to the corruption of Pakistan People’s Party-led government in the previous tenure,” he claimed.”Despite inheriting issues pertaining to terrorism and loadshedding, we cultivated a path to development for the country,” he said.
He said that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) had become a reality during the current tenure. “Pakistan is now being termed as a rising economy.”
The minister said that development projects worth billions of dollars were employed in the country during the tenure of the current government. He reminded the people that their vote held power to decide Pakistan’s future. Urging masses to vote for the continuation of positive policies, he warned that the success achieved in the last five years will go in vain if there is a change in power.
The minister warned that the weakening of current government may prove to be a noose on the neck. He claimed that elements antagonistic to the country’s progress were hatching conspiracies against the PML-N.
Speaking about major water projects, the minister said no big water scheme was initiated in the country after the Ghazi-Barotha hydropower project. Other than the hydropower projects, Iqbal said the government also bought the land for Diamer-Bhasha Dam for Rs1 billion, adding that construction of the dam would start this year.
He said that the national economic development indicators were getting better day by day, adding that the PML-N government had put the national economy at the take-off position. He said that every passing day was adding to the political popularity of the PML-N ahead of the 2018 general elections.
The interior minister said the PML-N government would complete its constitutional tenure by foiling all conspiracies against democracy, democratic system and country’s socio economic development.
Published in Daily Times, April 2nd 2018.
