LAHORE/HAFIZABAD - Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday emphatically stated that the corrupt elements would be brought to justice and the plundered amount would be recovered from their possession.
The prime minister was addressing a mammoth public gathering in Hafizabad after breaking ground of the Hafizabad University and a 400-bed District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ) for the city. The prime minister resolved that the government would uplift all the areas neglected in the past.
The Prime Minister regretted that a person sitting in London is attacking the state institutions including the judiciary and the Army. He said the PML (N) leader Nawaz Sharif is speaking the language of India to protect the looted amount.
Prime Minister Imran Khan said the present government’s policies are aimed at reducing poverty, uplift the poor segments of society and ensure rule of law in the country where everybody is equal before the law. Imran Khan said the journey towards establishing a welfare state has been started and this country will emerge as a great nation on the world map.
He said Health Insurance Scheme will be extended to the fifty percent population of Punjab by the end of this year and to the whole of province by next year. He said under this scheme, the people will be able to get medical treatment of one million rupees both from the public and private hospitals. He was confident that this would help increase the network of hospitals especially in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He said even the richest countries in the world do not have such a health insurance scheme.
Imran Khan said that Naya Pakistan Housing project has also been started under which the people will be able to get loan on easy installments at the interest rate of five percent to build a five-Marla house. He said it is the first time in the country’s history that the people will be able to own their houses.
On election reforms, the Prime Minister said it will be his government that will hold the fairest and transparent elections and emerge victorious. He said the process of election reforms has been started and we will use the new technology including the electronic voting.
While recounting his government’s pro-poor initiatives like health insurance card, shelter homes and housing loans, the PM said that health scheme would give a confidence to the low-income groups for having an insurance cover of Rs 1 million for medical treatment of a family at public and private hospitals.
Earlier, accompanied by Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, Member of the National Assembly Shaukat Bhatti and other party leaders, the prime minister unveiled plaques of the development projects.
“This is happening first time in Pakistan’s 73 years history. Even the developed countries do not have such a facility as being provided to the people of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” the prime minister remarked.
He said the initiative would also lead to the development of private hospitals network across the two provinces because the people with the insurance facility would be confidently visiting the private hospitals for medical treatment.
He said besides building shelter homes for down-and-out people, the government had also launched the Naya Pakistan Housing Programme to make the banks give easy loan to even low-income people for building their own homes.
“Many people had been talking of ‘Roti, Kapra aur Makan’ (food, clothing and shelter), but now for the first time, they (poor) will get home,” he remarked.
On his arrival, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar received the prime minister as the party songs were being played at the venue filled with the people holding party flags, banners and posters.
The prime minister said the uniformed education curriculum would provide opportunities to the students of government schools and seminaries to become doctors and engineers equal to those from any private institute.
He said the KP people re-elected the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) into government with even two-third majority because the pro-poor initiatives had reduced poverty from 27 to 18 percent in the terror-hit region where the businesses had been relocated and factories were closed down.
Reiterating his dream to alleviate poverty from across the country, Imran Khan said as soon as Pakistan became a welfare state, it would emerge as a great nation.
Calling the public gatherings of opposition’s alliance a “circus”, the prime minister said despite having looted the country for 30 years, they desired to continue enjoying privileges instead of facing accountability.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), he said, acted as subservient to the opposition leaders in the past but the incumbent government made it to work independently. Due to the very reason, the opposition blackmailed the government on economic crisis, COVID-19 and even on the FATF (Financial Action Task Force) related legislation just to get NAB abolished, he added.
“Should I let them go? Do you feel pity for them?” the prime minister asked the audience, which shouted, “No”. He assured the charged crowd that he would never pardon them until they paid back the nation’s looted money.
Having failed to pressure the government, he said, the opposition resorted to target the judiciary, the Army Chief, and the Inter Services Intelligence Director General, which was tantamount to instigating a coup within the institutions, just to cover up their (opposition) theft.
He said the conspirators like Mir Jafar and Mir Sadiq of the past, and Mir Ayaz Sadiq (PML-N leader Ayaz Sadiq for his statement on Indian pilot Abhinandan’s release) would be made accountable to law.
As the crowd chanted “diesel diesel” (term referred to JUI-F leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman), the prime minister rubbished his (Maulana Fazl’s) criticism, saying Islam was under threat due to the people like him, not the one who had raised the issue of Holy Prophet’s (Peace Be Upon Him) sanctity at international fora.
“I didn’t do it for any vote rather it is part of my faith,” he remarked. Recalling the controversy of poll rigging in 2013 and 2018, the prime minister said the PTI government would ensure holding the history’s fairest polls in future as multiple measures like electronic voting and other were being taken.
He said the credit for introducing neutral umpires in cricket also went to him as earlier the local umpires used to get biased for their own teams.
Earlier, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar said the PTI government was serving the people with utmost honesty and sincerity. It was Imran Khan, who had taught the people to demand their rights and raised voice against deep-rooted corruption, he added.
He thanked the prime minister for raising the issues of Kashmir and Islamophobia globally, besides categorically rejecting the opposition’s desire for compromise on their corruption cases.
Those, who had been harping ‘Vote ko Izzat Do’ (give respect to vote), must know that it were actually they who had breached the sanctity of vote, he added.
Lauding the government’s globally recognized anti-COIVD efforts, the chief minister said the government was pursuing the PTI’s manifesto of enforcing rule of law and supporting the poor through anti-poverty Ehsaas Programme. Sardar Buzdar also reiterated his resolve to make Punjab a model province by uplifting the backward areas at par with the developed ones.