PRIME Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday called for concerted national efforts to transform Pakistan into an economic power, urging the same level of dedication and resilience that enabled the country to achieve its status as a responsible nuclear state.
In his televised opening remarks at the meeting of the Federal Cabinet, he highlighted that the Government’s economic team had made collective efforts over the past two years, which were coming to fruition, ensuring stability and preventing the need for rationing. Looking ahead to the upcoming Yaum-e-Takbeer on May 28, the Premier emphasized that the nation remembered that day as the moment Pakistan achieved an impregnable defence in 1998. He underscored that Pakistan’s nuclear assets were strictly for deterrence and defence, not offense that has earned the country global recognition as a responsible nuclear state.
Pakistan’s defence is invincible mainly because of the wise and visionary decision taken by the then Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, contribution made by successive civil and military governments to acquire nuclear technology at all costs and services rendered by legendary scientist Dr. A.Q. Khan and thousands of scientists and engineers of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC). Pakistan faced discriminatory sanctions on economic and military cooperation and consistent propaganda campaigns launched by vested interests against its nuclear programme and the nature of the malicious propaganda can be gauged from the fact that Pakistan’s nuclear bomb was described as ‘Islamic bomb’ in an effort to give religious dimensions to a programme that was motivated by the desire to exploit technology to bolster national defence. History bears testimony to the fact that Pakistan repeatedly proposed ideas to make South Asia a nuclear free zone but these could not take practical shape due to cold-shouldering of India, which had both regional and global ambitions in acquiring nuclear technology. The decision to make Pakistan a nuclear power has served the cause of defence and security and in line with this strategy there is now also focus on development of missile and drone technologies because of their immense relevance proved by recent conflicts. Incidentally, the day when the PM was remembering heroes of Pakistan’s nuclear programme, the country successfully tested another version of the Fateh missile, which demonstrated commitment of Pakistan to continuing research and development efforts to make the nuclear and conventional deterrence relevant in the changing scenarios. The Prime Minister aptly paid rich tributes to the “heroes” of Pakistan’s nuclear journey, specifically crediting Zulfikar Ali Bhutto for initiating the program and Nawaz Sharif for its successful conclusion. He spoke the language of the people by declaring unequivocally that Pakistan’s nuclear capability would always remain an asset to the country’s defence and committed to making the country an economic power with the same hard work, spirit and commitment that was demonstrated to make Pakistan a nuclear power. The vision of the Prime Minister to make Pakistan an economic power assumes greater importance in the backdrop of growing realization among people of Pakistan that the security and sovereignty of the country remains compromised due to economic and financial vulnerabilities. It is a sorry state of affairs that both bilateral and multilateral donors are grossly exploiting Pakistan’s economic weakness and impose, sometimes, humiliating terms. How can we pursue the goal of economic sovereignty when we are not free to prepare even the national budget? No doubt, successive governments launched valuable initiatives with potential to realize the dream of making Pakistan an economic tiger but these became victims to political expediency. The country has a potential to become an economic power but the cherished goal cannot be achieved without developing consensus on the economic vision, which should be equitable. The stability that the Prime Minister referred to in his remarks evaporated during the ongoing Middle-East conflict as the country is being run on taxes collected on POL products and salaries of the employees as well as coercive electricity and gas tariffs. The Government might roll out its development and economic vision in black and white taking the provinces and the opposition on board and then pursue it rigorously in a time bound and transparent manner.
