ISLAMABAD, Jan 23 (APP):Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi Tuesday said the government of Pakistan Muslim League-N was the only government that did not face any charge of corruption in its five-year tenure.
“The government is functioning with full transparency and there is no stain on its credibility,” the Prime Minister said in his interaction with reporters here at the PM Office.
He said the people had given mandate to the PML-N to stay in office till July 1 and expressed firm confidence that the government would complete its term, and the election would be held on time.
“The government faces no threat and will continue till July 1, and not a single second earlier,” the Prime Minister categorically said.
He said the PML-N always addressed the challenges head-on. If anyone had courage, they had the option to bring a no-confidence motion against the prime minister or he himself had the powers to dissolve the National Assembly, he added.
Prime Minister Abbasi said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz had numerous milestones to its credit including overcoming electricity and gas crises and expansion of the country-wide road network.
“We will get back to people in 2018 general election with proof of these achievements,” he said and regretted that in the past, General Pervez Musharraf and Asif Ali Zardari during their tenures neglected the key development sectors of the country.
When his attention was drawn about the government’s inattention towards agriculture sector, the Prime Minister said though agriculture was a provincial subject under the 18th Amendment, however the federal government still extended immense support on related issues.
He said the provinces at the moment were enjoying their authority with little focus on their responsibilities and called for realizing and implementing the real spirit of 18th Amendment.
He mentioned that the PML-N had carried out utmost development work in South Punjab as compared to the previous governments.
To a question about Memogate whether in his opinion the appearance of Nawaz Sharif before the Commission or the sacking of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani was justified, Abbasi said approaching a court was the right of every person and it was up to the court to decide the case whatever it deemed correct.
The Prime Minister said it was a worldwide and open debate to discuss the perks and privileges of judges and stressed the need for the similar debate in Pakistan as well.
When asked to comment on “Abbasi as prime minister giving much time and attention to office as compared to his predecessor Nawaz Sharif”, the Prime Minister said it was not the duration of time that mattered but the quality of work that Nawaz Sharif did.
“Nawaz Sharif as prime minister has really delivered, and I am no comparison to his commitment, dedication and service to the nation,” Abbasi said.
To a question, the Prime Minister expressed concern over the increasing incidents of firing from across the Line of Control by Indian army and the heavy death toll of innocent civilians in Azad Kashmir.
When asked about the ties with the United States and its repeated mantra of “do more”, the Prime Minister said Pakistan was clear in its policies with the United States of America. He said the Pakistan – US ties spanned decades and covered all aspects of their relationships. He said the two countries were engaged at different levels and were regularly interacting.
When questioned in a lighter vein whether he too planned to have a twitter account to respond to President Trump, the Prime Minister said,“I am neither on Twitter, nor Facebook, nor WhatsApp.”
“I live in the stone-age,” the Prime Minister quipped.
He said Pakistan was conducting operations against the terrorists within its territory purely for its own objectives and to bring peace. He said Pakistan had already paid a heavy price against terrorism and would continue it till the clearing of the last remnants of terrorists.
In this regard, he also mentioned the fencing of border along Afghanistan and said Pakistan would do all to protect its people and the country from any illegal infiltration. About the drone attacks, he said Pakistan had the right to take any action it deemed right to protect its ground and air frontiers.
About news reports of Taliban’s desire to interact with the US government, he said, “If they (Taliban) wish to talk to the United States, they can. We have nothing to do with it.”
“We believe war is no option in Afghanistan. Pakistan is host to three million Afghan refugees and if the international community, instead of spending billions on war, spends a few billions on their repatriation, the situation could improve significantly.”
Prime Minister Abbasi, when asked about the proposed privatization of PIA, said the airline was incurring losses of around Rs 120 million a day, and “I firmly believe that the government sector cannot do business and the only solution was to privatize it.”
He said now it was up to the employees, the pilots, or anyone else to buy it. He said the airline had liabilities of US 450 million dollars and was making losses and argued that the same amount of money could be used elsewhere.
Regarding the new Islamabad International Airport, the Prime Minister hinted that the management of a modern airport required specialist handling and believed that the Civil Aviation Authority was not in a position to run it efficiently.
Defending his government’s economic performance, the Prime Minister said inflation had dropped from 13% to 5%, growth had risen from 3% to 6%, and fiscal deficit had dropped from 8.5% to 5%. He attributed declining exports to some ambiguity in the export policy and said Pakistan had the potential to raise it to 40 to 50 billion US dollars and assured that the government was working on it.
Refuting a question about lack of transparency, he said in fact transparency was the hallmark of the PML-N government as all agreements were available on the websites.
To a question about progress on Gwadar Port, the Prime Minister said despite claims the previous governments did not do “a penny’s worth of work” at the deep sea port.
The PML-N had the credit of making it operational by installing new cranes, setting up of industrial zones where work on five units was in progress, construction of infrastructure, besides three regular PIA flights. He said earlier not even a single ship had berthed at Gwadar in the past, while it also went to the credit of his government that now ships were docking at the port.
When reminded him about his earlier pledge to ensure provision of clean drinking water to the residents, he said the provincial government was trying to provide water to the people through tankers, while the FWO was also working on a project on Built-Operate-Transfer basis.
APP/Ahsan/VNS Islamabad
