Cabinet members offered Fateha for the security personnel martyred in various terrorist incidents
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday, calling the recent protest of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf a replica of the 2014 sit-in by the party, vowed that “gory tale” would not be allowed to repeat at any cost.
“Such incidents are a replica of 2014-15 incidents when a sit-in was staged for months and was not called off despite the announcement of the Chinese president’s visit to Pakistan without bothering about its impact on the country’s image and national economy… We will not allow it to be repeated. We will not tolerate it at any rate, at any cost. This is my promise. I will not let it happen,” the prime minister in his opening remarks at the meeting of the federal cabinet chaired by him.
The prime minister drew cabinet members’ attention to an attack that took place near Karachi airport killing two Chinese engineers and injuring another, despite the government’s all-out efforts to ensure their security.
He apprised the meeting of his telephonic conversation with the Chinese ambassador in Islamabad and also a condolatory visit to the Chinese embassy where he reiterated his government’s assurance to leave no stone unturned to make the security of Chinese national “unreachable.”
Referring to the PTI protest, the prime minister said that the allegations were hurled against the government and attempts were made to create chaos at a time when the Chinese Premier was about to pay a bilateral visit and a Saudi delegation was also scheduled to visit Pakistan and MoUs and agreements worth $2 billion are expected to be signed.
The cabinet meeting offered Fateha for the security personnel martyred in different terrorist incidents.
The prime minister thanked China, Saudi Arabia and the UAE for their support in obtaining the IMF loan facility and also mentioned last week’s “successful” visit of Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim when two sides agreed that Pakistan would export Halal meat and rice to Malaysia.
He said consequent to the “finest level” of teamwork, the IMF program had been approved, inflation was reduced from 32% to 6.9%, exports, remittances and IT exports were on surge and the stock exchange was skyrocketing. He said sabotaging all these efforts for the sake of their politics would be the biggest conspiracy to the country, he remarked.
Highlighting his government’s reform agenda, he mentioned the doubled number of tax return filers, broadening tax base and the digitisation of FBR.
