PTI Chief will not become the prime minister : Ahsan Iqbal

Lahore : Minister for Interior, Ahsan Iqbal on Wednesday hit hard at Chairman, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), Imran Khan for making desperate efforts to create uncertainty saying he had failed in his all endeavors to weaken the government and destabilize the country.
“Imran Khan through his campaign with pack of lies is not weakening the government, but in reality
he is causing loss to national integrity and halting course of progress and development,” he said while
addressing a press conference here.
The minister said enemies of Pakistan could not digest development in the country so they were
targeting its economy, peace and stability to stop its progress.
“Economy, peace and stability are pre-requisite for progress and no economic formula can prove successful to bring prosperity, unless these are not achieved,” he remarked.
He said that ever since Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) came into power, Imran Khan was working for creating political instability in the country, and by doing so, he actually was playing with the future of youth.
Contrary to it, the present government was making efforts to woo foreign investment and achieve record economic growth, he added.

Interior Minister, Ahsan Iqbal while hitting back at Imran Khan, who earlier criticized the government for “mishandling the situation arising out of the protest,” said the PTI Chief would not be able to become the prime minister without support of the masses.
“We don’t want endorsements from Imran Khan but from 200 million people of this country,” he said.
The Minister said Imran Khan, posing as the most honest person, has gathered corrupt people under his umbrella and added PTI Chief who has been claiming himself national level leader has made habit of levelling false allegations.
Regarding Faizabad sit-in, he said the government had exercised restraint regarding the Faizabad
sit-in in order to avert sectarian unrest.
“The protest at Faizabad was part of a conspiracy hatched to stir sectarian unrest in the country and portray
bad image of the country,” he said, urging this practice should be stopped in future.
“We all are Muslims and strongly believe in ‘Khatam-e-Nabuwat.’ Pakistan’s constitution is very clear on oath relating to the Finality of Prophethood. We need to avoid sectarian unrest in Pakistan at all costs and promote unity,” he said.
Ahsan Iqbal said the parliamentary committee which finalized the draft amendment in Elections Reforms Bill also had representation of four members from PTI.
He said all the stakeholders including civil and the military played their role in containing situation and the authorities eventually overcame it.
Answering a question, he reiterated that some of the protesters were armed and had reacted violently to police.
He said it was the responsibility of the religious parties to show the true picture of Islam, which teaches love, tolerance and harmony.The minister appealed to the nation to work towards religious harmony, especially during the current month.
Talking about the economic development, Ahsan Iqbal, who is also Minister for Planning and Development, said Pakistan was on the path to progress and would make its way to top 20 economies by year 2030.
The Minister said some forces were working to halt China Pakistan Economic Corridor Project which is a gift for the country.
He was of the view that growth target of 6.2 plus percent could have been easily achieved provided peaceful and conducive environment prevailed in the country.
The minister said that renowned rating agencies like WBC said that if Pakistan continued its growth at its current pace, it would be included in top economies of the world.
“If we want to secure future of youth we have to promote our growth rate,” he said, adding that it was effort of PTI leader to stop flow of investment into the country during the PML-N government.

He said that sit-ins of 2014, and then of 2016 and initiatives like Civil Disobedience, wheel jams aimed at destabilizing the country, however, Imran Khan failed miserably and that was why he even today was not leaving any opportunity to create law and order situation.

Ahsan said that so far as many as 7000 MW electricity has been energized, which was  42 per cent of total energy resources developed during the past seventy years. He said that when the government assumed power in 2013, there were total 16,000 megawatt electricity in the system, now more than 7000 had been added to the national grid.

He said that by May 2018, 2500 to 3000 MW more electricity would be added to the national grid, bringing the total generation during the PML (N) tenure to 10,000 megawatt, which is a record.

He said that even dictators ruled the country for up to eleven years, but they also failed to bring such a huge power resources to the system.

Ahsan Iqbal said that about US $ 27 billion had been energized under China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Project out of $ 46 billion, which was also a world record of investment during a short span of time.
He said that the economic growth was stagnant as it had slowed down up to 3 per cent, however, it had achieved
5.3 per cent during the last year, the highest growth rate of the decade.
“We have been eying on achieving 6 per cent during the current fiscal year,” he added.
“If there is a conflict, then the development process gets
stalled,” he said and added the second requirement of industrial development was strong infrastructure and in coming years the Gwadar Port would also have further improved infrastructure through road and modern airport.
Ahsan Iqbal said CPEC should not be made controversial as it would bring about sustainable prosperity in Pakistan as well as the region.
In the past, it took two days to travel from Gwadar to Quetta, its own provincial headquarters, and now with the expressway it took eight hours, he remarked.
To a question about shutting live TV coverage of November 25 operation, he said, “We believe and support freedom of expression and in ideal circumstances we did not want to shut transmission of television channels but there must be a difference between cricket commentary and security operation.”

Replying to a question, the Minister said that informal negotiations have been initiated with the opposition for the formation of interim government.
When asked whether he was holding an Aqama, the minister said since he was a professional and part of the Advisory Board of  the Madinah Institute of Leadership and Entrepreneurship(MILE), so he was given the Aqama  by its management.

He, however, added that currently he was not having any ‘Aqama’ and could challenge PTI chief Imran Khan to prove his claims in that regard.