Shehbaz Sharif urges business community to support energy conservation plan n Says his govt already taxed the rich and can’t put more burden on the poor n Hopes IMF team will visit Pakistan within two to three days n Calls Imran ‘a thankless person’ who halted CPEC projects, damaged foreign relations n PTI chief was ungrateful to former military leadership despite enjoying their support.
ISLAMABAD – Prime minister Shehbaz Sharif yesterday said that the IMF has assured to send its team to Pakistan for a review within two to three days.
“Unlike its predecessor, the incumbent government would abide by its commitments with IMF without further burdening the masses,” the PM said this while referring to his telephonic interaction with IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva earlier in the day.
The prime minister was addressing a ceremony held here for the establishment of Hazara Electric Company. Earlier in the day, IMF Managing Director International Monetary Fund Kristalina Georgieva called Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif According to sources, the Prime Minister requested Kristalina Georgieva to show flexibility on IMF demand to raise electricity/gas prices in Pakistan. She assured that this point would be tabled before the IMF board meeting scheduled for 9th January in Washington.
Kristalina Georgieva thanked the PM for the invitation but explained that as the IMF Board meetings had been prefixed for 9th and 10th of January, she will only be able to join the conference virtually. The Prime Minister assured Kristalina Georgieva that Pakistan is committed to successfully completing the ongoing IMF programme and thanked her for her understanding and empathy of the challenginges that Pakistan has been facing.
The Prime Minister, while addressing the ceremony, appealed the business community to support the government’s recently announced energy conservation plan marking the early closure of markets and restaurants, to ensure judicious use of national resources and reduce the import bill.
“I appeal to the business community to extend their support to the government (for energy conservation). This will reduce the oil import and bring down the dollar rate which would later be spent on the country’s progress including agriculture and medicine,” the prime minister said.
Covering a total area of over 16,774 square kilometers, the new company would cater to the needs of around 726,000 consumers across Haripur, Mansehra, Abbottabad, Battagram, Torgarh, Kohistan Upper, Kohistan Lower and Kolai Plus. The prime minister said any difficulty faced by a nation necessitated collective action and expressed the hope that the traders from across the country would take part in this “jihad” to save the national resources.
During his telephonic call with the IMF top official, the PM also sensitized her about the country’s economic condition adversely affected by the worst floods and made it clear his government had already taxed the rich but could no more burden the poor.
Speaking highly of the Pak-China fraternal relations, the prime minister said in his meeting, the Chinese Premier Li Keqiang had also urged the IMF chief to support Pakistan considering the tough circumstances.
He also apprised the gathering of his 45-minute-long telephonic conversation with the Chinese Premier on Thursday in which the latter had assured him not to leave Pakistan alone, which the prime minister said was evident from the improvement of bilateral relations strained by the poor foreign policy of the previous government.
The prime minister criticized the previous government for undermining Pakistan’s relations with friendly countries including China, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE because the ex-prime minister Imran Khan utilized most of his energies on political victimization and blaming the opponents.
The prime minister assured that the coalition government would do its maximum for the relief of the masses including the provision of jobs.
He said with the establishment of HAZECO, a longstanding demand of the Hazara people, was fulfilled and all the formalities in this regard would be completed immediately.
He said the government had already ordered the completion of half-complete gas projects initiated in the past as billions from the national kitty were already spent.
He recalled that besides launching numerous development schemes across the Hazara region, ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif had launched LNG-based power plants to inject another 11,000MW of electricity into the national grid to support the energy-scarce country.
Calling Imran Khan a thankless person, the prime minister said the PTI chief had nothing to claim the credit for any development project in KP, Sindh, AJK, GB and Hazara.
He said despite enjoying their immense support, the PTI chief was ungrateful to the former military leadership and was instead blaming them.
Prime Minister Shehbaz said the coalition government inherited unimaginably poor economic conditions with the energy crisis, halted CPEC projects, and strained foreign relations. He said at the upcoming International Conference of Climate Resilient Pakistan, the prime minister said he would contest the case of Pakistan.
The prime minister resolved that under PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif’s leadership, the incumbent government would lead Pakistan to become a great nation. In his remarks, Minister for Energy Engineer Khurram Dastgir said the previous government halted major development projects including Shanghai Electric Power Project but the incumbent government took the project to completion. He said a grid of 765KV was ready for inauguration in Mansehra and that the current government had resumed the development course impeded by the PTI government.
PML-N leader Captain (Retd) Safdar said with the establishment of HAZECO, the government had fulfilled a long-standing demand of the people of Hazara who were also thankful to the PML-N leadership for building the motorway and Muzaffarabad road for their facilitation.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Murtaza Javed Abbasi and ex-federal minister SardarYousuf said the people of Hazara would never disappoint the PML-N. They said by impeding the development projects, the PTI government inflicted immense loss on the country. PML-N leaders Senator Pir Sabir Shah and Engineer Amir Muqam thanked the prime minister for the establishment of the HAZECO and demanded of the government to lift the ban on jobs in distribution companies. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed the Interior Minister, the Interior Secretary, and the National Coordinator for National Counter Terrorism Authority to evolve an immediate counter terrorism strategy, with consulting the provinces, and submit a detailed report.
The Prime Minister said that terrorists and miscreants cannot demoralize the people of Pakistan in their resolve to eliminate terrorism from the country. He said this while chairing a review meeting in Islamabad on Friday regarding the overall security situation in Pakistan. He advised the provincial apex committees to hold their meetings regularly and eliminate terrorism from the country through enhanced cooperation amongst all the institutions. The Prime Minister said we will not hesitate in rendering any sacrifice for the defence of the motherland. He emphasized on enhanced collaboration among all the provincial and federal agencies to curb the recent wave of terrorism. During the meeting, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and the Interior Secretary presented a detailed briefing on the overall security situation in the country. Inspector Generals and the Chief Secretaries of all the four provinces apprised the meeting about the recent incidents of terrorism and measures taken for maintenance of law and order. The Prime Minister directed the National Coordinator NACTA to further further accelerate its cooperation with provincial Counter Terrorism Departments and other law enforcement agencies.
On the occasion, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced conferring Hilal-e-Shujaat upon ISI Director Naveed Sadiq Shaheed and Sitara-e-Shujaat upon Inspector Nasir Abbas Shaheed, who embraced martyrdom in firing by terrorists. The Prime Minister, made this announcement during his visit to the residence of martyred ISI Director Naveed Sadiq in Islamabad on Friday. He met with the wife, son, and the daughter of the martyred director of the ISI and commiserate with them.
He also offered Fateha for the departed soul. He said the entire nation is proud of Naveed Sadiq Shaheed and Nasir Abbas Shaheed. Paying tribute to martyrs, Shehbaz Sharif said that they rendered unforgettable sacrifices for the security and defence of the country. He said Naveed Sadiq demonstrated exemplary services for the eradication of terrorism.
