Pakistan will become an Islamic-welfare state one day: PM Imran

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday expressed hope that the country will one day become an Islamic welfare state, a goal the premier has worked towards since coming to power in 2018.

“It was always a dream of our founding fathers, Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Allama Iqbal,” PM Imran said while addressing the nation on the country’s 74^th Independence Day. “The dream was to make it an Islamic-Welfare state where the law is upheld and everyone’s rights were protected by the state regardless of their caste or creed.”

The premier said that this was a journey in which everyone would have to struggle and play their respective role.

Talking about the Covid-19 situation in the country, PM Imran congratulated the nation for the way it fought the pandemic which has ravaged many countries. “We were afraid that people would die of the virus and on the other hand, from hunger because of the lockdown,” the PM said, “We have to thank Allah that coronavirus cases in the country have reduced and the economy is reviving.”

However, PM Imran warned that country has not completely won the war against the pandemic and urged caution.

He said that there are still challenges ahead. “Wearing a face mask is easy. If you wear a mask, the chances of catching the virus are significantly reduced”.

The premier also congratulated the nation for facing and surviving the difficult economic times of the first two years of the PTI government.

“If the country had defaulted because of the loans taken by the previous government, then its consequences would have been very severe and the entire nation would have had to bear it,” he said.

The most adverse part would have been due to devaluation of the rupee which would have resulted in acute inflation, he added.

“If you want to see how our economy is doing then look at the stock market,” he said, “It has increased in record time. It is because of the construction sector as 40 other sectors are associated with it thus resulting in wealth creation.”

Wealth creation gives two benefits, he said. One is that more taxes can be collected and the other is of the country paying its debts. “The amount of taxes we had collected was of Rs4 trillion,” he said. “Half of it went to debt repayment for loans taken by previous governments.”

He added that despite the pandemic, the country's exporters have increased, our tax collection has also increased.

Another problem the country was facing was of producing expensive electricity. PM Imran said it was also due to contracts made by previous governments. “Producing expensive electricity and selling it cheap was pushing the sector towards circular debt,” he said.

The premier said that there were negotiations between the government and the independent power producers which reached an agreement. 

“The people would benefit from it as the cost of generating electricity would be reduced and they would get cheap electricity,” he said. “We also have to rectify the distribution of electricity to cut line losses. When we reduce the burden of taxes and increase cheap electricity in the country, the result would be an industrial Pakistan.”

PM Imran also gave a message to people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

He said that Pakistan is aware of the difficult times the brothers and sisters of IIOJK are going though.

“We would make all diplomatic efforts to make sure that you get your right of self-determination,” he said. “The whole nation is with you. We would also pray to Allah that you get your independence. May Allah give you the right that was supposed to given to you 70 years ago.”