ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has asserted that his life would be easier if he gives the opposition the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), but it would be disastrous for Pakistan.
Interacting with digital media publishers and broadcasters in Islamabad today (Sunday), the Prime Minister claimed that the corrupt opposition leaders had requested him in writing to grant them an NRO.
PM Imran said that arch-rivals of the past, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) have now shaken hands to conceal their corruption. “I am against giving NRO to those, who looted Pakistan’s wealth and plunged the country into the quagmire of debt,” he added.
Talking about the Machh incident, the Prime Minister claimed that India was backing ISIS in the region to spread chaos in Pakistan by fanning sectarianism. “New Delhi was behind the terror attack in Balochistan,” he maintained.
“Pakistan’s security agencies successfully preempted Indian plots to fan sectarianism,” he said, adding that it was unfortunate that terrorists targeted Hazara workers in thinly populated areas.
He further said that previous governments did not pay due attention to Balochistan and always preferred to form an alliance with Baloch Chieftains, who became the biggest hurdle in transferring development funds to the grassroots level.
“PTI-led federal government has focused the socio-economic development of Balochistan to uplift the common citizens of the province who are facing extreme poverty,” the premier added.
He said Pakistan is passing through a defining moment and social media has a great role in setting a new standard of morality by exposing the plunderers.
Commenting on the country’s situation, the premier also said ‘change’ was not a switch that could be turned on at one’s whim. “Out of 220 million people in Pakistan only 3,000 pay 70 percent taxes,” he added.
“Half of the taxes we collect go in debt settlement of loans taken by previous governments,” the PM reiterated. PM Imran added that the country was at a decisive point.
“Our exports were growing, the construction industry was thriving,” he said, adding that the service industry was still in crisis all over the world at the moment.
