ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday said that the coalition government and national institutions are in unprecedented harmony and cooperation to serve better national interests and take the country out of prevailing problems.
Speaking at the Ulema-Mashaikh Conference here, the Prime Minister said that the country never needed unity and national harmony more and he had never seen such level of cooperation between political government and institutions during his political career.
He appreciated the support provided by Chief of General Staff General Syed Asim Munir, who also participated in the discussion, and said that such exemplary cooperation is a model for the future.
He said the challenges pervading the country called for learning from past weaknesses and mistakes and making sincere efforts to develop Pakistan as a country dreamed of by forefathers who sacrificed hundreds of thousands of lives during the Pakistan Movement.
Prime Minister Shehbaz said that the nation, which was about to celebrate its 77th Independence Day on August 14, was yet to find its goal, but the goal was achievable subject to dedicated efforts and adherence to the teachings of the Quran and Sunnah.
He called for an effort to wipe out Fitna al Khawarij – a term referring to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan – which he said was involved in anti-Pakistan activities despite claiming to be Pakistani. He also criticized the use of social media to spread lies and propaganda – especially after 2018 – instead of appreciating the government’s efforts in public services.
He said that even army soldiers who sacrificed their lives to protect millions of other children from orphans were being humiliated on social media.
The prime minister described the May 9 attacks as the “most heartbreaking” incident in the country’s history and emphasized that the figures behind the 1971 tragedy met their fate in Bangladesh amid recent developments in the country.
He urged the Ulema to play their role to remove divisions in the society and emphasize the Islamic economic system, saying that no force can hinder the development of the country if the nation is determined to achieve its goal.
Prime Minister Shehbaz told the gathering that the government is making maximum efforts to solve the economic problems and expects the upcoming IMF program to be the last one. At the same time, it has pumped in Rs 50 billion to support protected category consumers who consume up to 200 units. But consumers using 200-500 units of electricity were still under load, he added.
He, however, assured the gathering that the coalition government and the COAS were consulting to come up with a comprehensive plan to provide inflation relief to the affected people and the province would soon announce its plans in this regard. He said the IMF program is a compulsion to bring stability to the economy, productive employment and reforms in the FBR and power sector.
