Staff Reporter Islamabad
Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday while taking a clear and unequivocal stand said that trade with India without resolving the Kashmir issue would be a treachery and we cannot betray with the blood of Kashmiris.
Giving a clear and unequivocal message, the prime minister said that we stand with the Kashmiri brothers and sisters and it is not possible for us to resume trade with India at the behest of blood of Kashmiris.
“India must withdraw all actions taken about Kashmir after August 5, 2019, adding that New Delhi is settling Hindus in occupied Kashmir.”
Interacting with the public via telephone on Sunday, he said at present, Pakistanis are facing two major problems, inflation and unemployment, but when the wheel of economy moves on and growth rate increases, people would get employment, reducing their poverty.
“No other government has faced the same difficulties like the PTI government,” he said, adding the country was badly in debt when PTI came to power.
He said the opposition had said on the first day that the government was incompetent but no one could have imagined a growth rate of 4.5 percent.
Regarding Palestine issue, the PM said that the issue of Palestine cannot be solved through oppression, adding that for the first time, there were protests in the West against the atrocities perpetrated on the Palestinians.
He said the automation system would be fully introduced. In the past, it was resisted by the people taking benefits from the corrupt regime, they did not want it to happen.
The prime minister said, the track and trace system, would also help the system to function smoothly, besides, enhancing the tax collection.
Imran Khan said his main focus is to provide better health facilities to the disadvantaged segments of the society.
He said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has already provided health insurance cards to all the households whilst the same will be done in Punjab by the end of this year.
He said a network of hospitals will be established in the country. For this purpose, the land of Pakistan Railways and Auqaf will be utilized.
Responding to a query of another caller, Imran Khan said a committee has been established to categorize between legal and illegal housing societies.
He said this list will also be put on a website so that the people are not defrauded by the illegal housing societies.
He said the land record will be computerized in Islamabad, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by August this year which will also help discourage the land mafia.
He said legislation is also being brought to ensure speedy disposal of land related cases. He said the government has taken strict action against the land grabbers and got vacated a large swathe of land from them.
When asked about Rawalpindi Ring Project, the prime minister said this is a very important project for the city and work on it will be started immediately. He said he ordered inquiry into the project after receiving reports of fraud in it.
He said inquiry will be completed into it in a matter of two weeks and then action will be taken against the responsible persons who realigned the project for the benefit of few individuals.
“Someone informed me about the wrongdoing in the project and after inquiry, it has emerged that the alignment of the road was done to benefit the powerful,” he said while responding to a citizen during a two-hour-long live telephonic session on Sunday.
His statement comes days after his top aide Zulfikar Bukhari stepped down and Federal Minster Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar cried foul after the national graft-buster decided to open an inquiry into alleged anomalies in a multimillion-dollar infrastructure project in Rawalpindi in which the pair have been named.
Prime Minister Imran Khan has vowed that the Pakistan Democratic Movement will never succeed in its objective and will never be able to win “come what may”.
The prime minister said that if the Opposition’s objective was aligned with the welfare of the people, “they would have toppled the government a long time ago”.
“But their interests are personal in nature. They have banded together not under any ideology or for the country, but simply because they want to blackmail us into taking back the corruption cases against them — which had been in place even before we came into power,” the premier said.
Answering a query on what role Pakistan is playing in the Palestine and Kashmir crises, the prime minister said he would like to speak about Kashmir first.
“There is no doubt that if we have good relations with India — and on the other hand we have such a big market when it comes to China — if we begin trade and there is greater connectivity, its a proven fact that trade benefits all,” he said, also citing the example of when the European Union was formed.
He said he tried his best the very first day in power to improve relations with India and to sort out the Kashmir issue through dialogue.
