Youth empowerment key to development, prosperity of Pakistan: PM

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday said the government was committed to empower the youth of the country as empowering them was a key to ensure the development and prosperity of Pakistan.

He said the youth of the country were capable enough to transform the country’s fate as with their hard work and dedication, they could help Pakistan develop at a faster pace leaving its neighbouring country far behind in terms of economic development and prosperity.

Addressing the launching ceremony of the laptop programme in Islamabad, the prime minister said that the ceremony reminded him of the days when as Punjab chief minister he distributed hundreds of thousands of laptops among the students on merit.

He said that those laptops helped the students a lot during the Covid-19 pandemic days when they took their classes online while sitting at home and also earned their bread and butter by working as freelancers.

Read more: Govt to distribute 100,000 laptops to youth across Pakistan

He informed that he as Punjab chief minister also provided scholarships to the talented youth under Punjab Education Endowment Fund (PEEF), and the beneficiary of these programmes was now serving the country in various areas including health, IT and engineering.

The prime minister maintained that this had been his mission to provide every youth with a laptop machine to enable them to successfully move forward in their respective areas.

He informed that in addition to the 100,000 laptops approved for the previous financial year, he has successfully obtained approval for an additional 100,000 laptops for the current fiscal year.

He said that the laptop distribution process would totally be on merit and no influence will be accepted in this regard.

For the youth from rural areas, he said the government had allocated Rs5 billion to provide agriculture loans, while another Rs5 billion had been allocated for the provision of skilled-based training to the youth.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Youth Affairs Shaza Fatima Khawaja said Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in its every tenure, had empowered the youth.

She said that since 2011, one million laptops had been distributed among talented students while over Rs100 billion in loans had also been provided to the youth to empower them.

She said that the prime minister would distribute 100,000 laptops among the students in the days to come.

Minister for Information Marriyum Aurangzeb, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Interior Attaullah Tarrar, and Chairman of Higher Education Dr Mukhtar Ahmed were also present on the occasion.