“I was a Captain that fought till the last ball, and I will fight till the last ball in politics,” said Prime Minister Imran Khan in his address to the National Assembly after winning its confidence by 178 votes today. After expressing his gratitude to his supporters, the Prime Minister outlined the government’s achievements and roadmap for the future.
This includes countering inflation, expanding health coverage, investing in agriculture, building megaprojects, and introducing electoral reform.
In his speech, the Prime Minister said Pakistan has left a difficult time and is moving towards prosperity.
“Our current account has gone into surplus,” he noted. “We are not manipulating this; the Rupee is gaining strength on its own. This is despite the fact that coronavirus ravaged the world’s economies, as well as ours.”
He added that to effectively deal with the COVID-19 crisis, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government made databases, organisations, and policies to protect the country’s people.
“We gave people monetary support and gave companies incentives so they could survive the pandemic,” he said, adding that he was grateful to Federal Minister for Planning Asad Umar and the team that oversaw this difficult task.
Export-led growth to counter inflation
The Prime Minister noted that despite the pandemic, Overseas Pakistanis have sent a record number of remittances back to the county, while the greatest number of companies were registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) this year.
“Our way forward is clear. We have to focus on export-led growth,” he said, adding that there are many challenges the country is still facing. “Electricity is still expensive and unavailable in many parts of the country. If we increase the tariffs, the common man wouldn’t be able to pay.”
“Circular debt is also a challenge,” he added.
“I would like to tell the people we are working on every solution,” he reassured.
He further congratulated his team on being able to sign new agreements with Independent Power Plants (IPPS) for cheaper electricity, adding that it was a very important step in eliminating circular debt.
“The greatest pressure on me right now, personally, is inflation in Pakistan,” Imran Khan said. “I would like to tell the people that our team is wholeheartedly working on reducing inflation, and we would be launching programs for this very soon.”
Health coverage
Prime Minister Imran Khan announced that the government is moving towards introducing Sehat Insaf cards for universal health coverage in Punjab, after successfully introducing them in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
“Firstly, I would congratulate the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government for introducing health insurance cards all across the province,” he said. “All families in the province have been covered by Rs 10 lakh insurance—even wealthy countries across the world have not been able to do this.”
“Punjab is a much larger province, so this process is difficult. But Chief Minister Usman Buzdar will introduce health cards in Punjab very soon,” he maintained.
Agriculture
Prime Minister Imran Khan said that the majority of the government’s revenue flows into repaying debts, but the government will ensure investment in the agricultural sector of the country with the remaining revenue.
“We have not forgotten farmers, and will be focusing on their problems,” he said. “Most of our revenue goes into loan repayments, but whatever we have left we will invest in agriculture.”
Mega projects
He added that multiple mega development projects have been started by the government, such as the Ravi Urban Project in Lahore, a Business Centre in Walton, and Bundal Island in Karachi.
“We are doing this because our cities are expanding. We need modern cities that have proper sanitation, facilities, and vertical housing. Our cities cannot expand endlessly,” he stressed.
“Ravi project is important because it will allow us to preserve the water table in Lahore by building a barrage. We will plant forests and carry out proper afforestation programs,” he said. “The case is the same with Bundal Island. All the sewage released there is untreated. Let’s make a proper city and not just expand Karachi endlessly till it reaches Hyderabad.”
“The real reason we have started these projects is that these projects will generate revenue, they will draw investments from abroad, and the economic activity they will produce will generate billions for the government,” he added. “These revenues will be used to pay back loans and start new projects to alleviate the problems of the country.”
“Another thing on our roadmap is building dams,” the Prime Minister added.
“In the history of Pakistan, only two major dams have been built. Our government is constructing two more, the Mohmand and Diamer-Bhasha Dams,” he said.
Electoral reform
“In the end, I would like to say that nobody can stop Pakistan from moving forward,” Prime Minister Imran Khan said.
“No other nation has the blessings we have. We have fertile land, an unmatched geo-strategic position, and we have a large young population ready for the technology-based economic revolution. If we manage to educate them properly, they will take the nation forward,” he added.
Towards the end of his address, the Prime Minister addressed the Election Commission of Pakistan, noting that it was upset at his remarks.
“Let me tell them, now we will change the system,” he said.
“We will bring in electoral reform, institute electronic machines, and allow overseas Pakistanis to vote. Then nobody will be able to claim rigging, and all elections will be conducted transparently.”
