Staff Report
DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, on Monday, reiterated the commitment that despite several economic challenges including the post-flood situation, the incumbent government was determined to steer Pakistan out of the current crisis.
The Prime Minister was addressing a ceremony after laying foundation stones for several uplift communication, power infrastructure, road, and hydel projects in Dera Ismail Khan. He said, “There may be several challenges, but 220 million people of the country should not be worried; the coalition government, with the partners’ support, will steer the country out of the challenges.”
He said they would have to work diligently to achieve progress and prosperity. “Nations always face challenges, and the government will put Pakistan on the path of progress and development only through hard work,” the PM added.
Amir of Jammiat-e-Ulema Islam-F Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Haji Ghulam Ali, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb, Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal, Advisor to PM on Political Affairs Engineer Amir Muqam, relevant authorities and a large number of people were present on occasion.
Pakistan’s economic recovery
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that he had laid the foundations for the commencement of mega-development projects in the backward areas of the southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
He mentioned that during his previous visits, the southern areas were inundated with flood water, and the region’s people had faced severe destruction; from Nowshera to Swat, Kalam, Tank, Kohistan, and D.I. Khan districts were badly affected by flash floods.
He said that destruction in Swat was caused mainly due to man-made structures in the middle of the river’s course. He criticized the PTI-led provincial government for its flawed policies.
PM Shehbaz Sharif sarcastically referred that the PTI provincial government always talked about introducing an efficient system, but the people had witnessed the failure of that system, adding that the government’s blunders in this regard could not be neglected.
He said, however, with the governments’ collective efforts to overcome the flood situation. However, different areas in Sindh were still under flood water, and the people in Gilgit Baltistan were shivering from the biting cold.
PM Shehbaz said the federal government had allocated Rs90 billion for the flood-affected populace. Each affected family was given PKR 25,000 besides, ensuring the provision of medicine and food.
He said that the magnitude of the disaster was huge. He said that on January 9, a donors’ conference would be held in Geneva, and they would remind the international community that the climate-induced calamity resulted from the developed countries’ global carbon emissions.
He opined that Pakistan had less than one percent of carbon imprints, but the extreme weather had pummelled it due to the developed countries carbon emissions.
