-Says long term planning, self-dependence inevitable for country’s uplift
-Don’t strive for ‘soft image’ of Pakistan only to please the West, PM tells nation
By Ali Imran
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday blamed previous governments Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) for destroying all state institutions during their tenures.
While addressing the launching ceremony of a documentary drama in Islamabad on Thursday afternoon, the prime minister said the government will provide all possible assistance to promote the film and drama industry in the country.
He said, “Pakistani nation has huge potential and we will have to repose confidence in ourselves to tap this hidden talent. Pakistan was leading in the drama industry and we will have to strive hard for reviving this past glory.”
Talking about the availability of water and opportunities for hydropower, Imran Khan blamed past governments for not making long-term plans. “Unfortunately, past regimes did not focus on long term planning and went for short-term planning to get immediate results to win elections.”
The premier said that PPP and PML-N signed the most expensive power generation agreements in the subcontinent and ignored building dams to generate cheaper and clean-green energy.
Under these energy agreements made by the previous governments, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government is compelled to spend billions of rupees as capacity payments to Independent Power Producers even if we do not have the need to buy electricity from them, he added.
The prime minister said that capacity payments will likely reach Rs1,500 billion in 2023.
He further said that when PTI came into power back in 2018, it immediately announced to build two dams in the country, after a gap of five decades, adding that construction work on Mohmand Dam is underway and will be completed soon.
He said the PTI government was paying special attention to hydropower in order to generate cheap electricity and to overcome climate change hazards as well.
Prime Minister Imran Khan says Pakistanis shouldn’t be concerned about creating a “soft image” of their country only to win approval from the West, calling such a perception an “inferiority complex”.
“I repeatedly hear we need to present a soft image of Pakistan. What does a soft image mean? Why do we say this and if this soft image is established will the world consider us very good?
“We shouldn’t fall into this kind of misunderstanding; this is an inferiority complex. When a nation loses it confidence it tries to please people,” the prime minister emphasized.
He said people shouldn’t plan their actions based on what Western countries would approve, citing the example of the vision of “enlightened moderation” introduced by former military ruler retired Gen Pervez Musharraf.
“We heard the term ‘enlightened moderation’ for the first time in our lives. Nobody knows what it means.
Most people understood it that the more we resemble people in the West the more we will appear moderate. So people started speaking English and wearing Western clothes, and [thought] they had become moderate. “Is this moderation? Please understand this is inferiority complex.”
Mr. Khan said that economic self-dependence and long-term planning were inevitable for country’s development as country had suffered in the past owing to short term approach of the previous government.
A production of JB production, the docu-drama exhibited the revival and importance of hydro power in Pakistan particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa which had suffered the most in war against terrorism.
He said the developed countries like China planned 10 to 20 years ahead of time while in Pakistan, the previous governments executed short term projects and spent billions of rupees on their promotion to win the next election.
He said due to the very reasons, the hydro power projects were not executed despite immense potential of 70,000 megawatt in the country rather the governments signed exorbitant contracts to supply the costliest electricity in the subcontinent.
Mr. Khan said “We entered someone else’s war which wasn’t ours, we should’ve never joined it,” he said, adding that Pakistan had first taken part in “glorifying jihad” in the 1980s and making the Mujahideen “heroes”, and later pursued them as “terrorists” on instructions of the US after 9/11.
