Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday, while terming the corrupt mafia the biggest impediment to the country’s progress, said the year 2020 will prove to be tough on the plunderers of the national wealth.
“Pakistan is set to witness an era of prosperity and development in 2020, while the corrupt should be ready for a difficult time ahead,” the prime minister said in his address to a public rally here at the ground-breaking of Jalalpur Canal. He said no country can make progress unless corruption, which is highly detrimental to the institutions as it involves money ought to be spent on education and health of the common man, is not eliminated.
The prime minister said that during the last 10 years, the corrupt politicians played havoc with the public money that led to currency devaluation and inflation. “We have no personal enmity with the corrupt mafia, who get united whenever caught. Bigger the dacoit, more the hue and cry,” he said.
The prime minister urged the nation to support him in his fight against corruption and collectively defeat the mafia involved in looting the national exchequer. He gave reference of the accountability systems of China and the United States against the corrupt.
Imran Khan said the government at its inception faced difficult economic situation in shape of three times trade deficit, currency devaluation and high import price of petroleum, gas and edible oil. However, the country at present has gained economic stability with the rupee getting stronger, and the exports, investments and remittances increasing. The year 2020 will also be a year of job opportunities for Pakistanis, he said. “I always tell my nation to have faith. With the Grace of Almighty Allah, we have started coming out of the crises,” he said.
The prime minister said that Pakistan is blessed to have fertile land, and gold and copper reserves. However, he regretted that such potential could not be exploited due to apathy of rulers in the past.
On ceasefire violations by India at the Line of Control (LoC), Imran Khan said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is making a failed attempt to divert the world’s attention from the atrocities his security forces are carrying out in the occupied valley of Kashmir. The Pakistan Army, he said, is fully ready to thwart any nefarious designs of India.
The prime minister expressed condolence with the families of two soldiers martyred on the LoC in the morning and said the nation acknowledges their sacrifice for the country. He equated Modi with ‘Hitler and Pharaoh of the time’ for his oppression of Muslims, with incidents, including the earlier Gujarat massacre and the recent passing of controversial citizenship bill. “It is my prediction that the people of India, not only Muslims but also Hindus, Sikhs and Christians will ultimately rise against Modi,” he said.
About the 114-kilometre-long Jalalpur Canal to be built with a cost of Rs 32.7 billion, he said it will facilitate some 400,000 people residing in 80 villages of districts Jhelum and Khushab, by bringing 172,000 acres cultivable land under the irrigation system.
Imran Khan said he is aware of the difficulties faced by the people of area, including unavailability of drinking water, and lauded Chief Minister Usman Buzdar for finalizing the project pending for the last 20 years.
