Zubair Qureshi Islamabad
President Dr Arif Alvi has called for political inclusion of all segments of society terming it vital for financial inclusion to put the country on the path of progress and prosperity.
While addressing the 3rd edition of the Hosting Business Net 2024 on Monday, the president hailed millions of young voters who had expressed their confidence in the democratic system recently in Feb 8 elections.
The seminar was organized to promote financial inclusion and digital transformation and recognize the contributions of companies working in this sector and attended by members of the business and diplomatic community.
Addressing the event as Chief Guest, the president said if their (people’s) confidence in the system was shaken, it would not be in the country’s interest. The president called for respecting the mandate of the people adding that the blockage of social media websites in Pakistan was due to the lack of intellectual capacity to handle criticism. He also lamented that capable people were being kicked out of politics.
The president called for enhancing the inclusion of deprived sections of society, especially women and persons with disabilities, in the mainstream of the economy through the digital transformation of the financial sector for socio-economic development. He said that financial inclusion was not possible without political inclusion of the people as excluding them from the development process could have repercussions for the country.
Expressing concern over the slow decision-making and lack of leadership in the country, the President said that Pakistan needed good leadership and timely decision-making to put it on the path of progress and prosperity. He remarked that Pakistani people were a vibrant nation that had been blessed with abundant natural resources, adding that Pakistan needed to invest in their intellectual development and capacity building.
The president highlighted that Pakistan could not progress without the inclusion of 26.2 million out-of-school children in the education system. He stated that educating such a large portion of our population would require thousands of new schools and additional resources. “If left unaddressed, Pakistan would export raw labour without any value-addition”, he added. He cited the example of China which had lifted millions of its people out of poverty by investing in their education and health.
