Standing with SC: PM

LAHORE: The Prime Minister, Imran Khan, said the government is standing by with the Supreme Court of Pakistan and pledged that there would be no compromise on the implementation of the apex court verdicts.

He was speaking after performing a groundbreaking ceremony of the Panah Gah (shelter house) project for the shelterless as well as the passengers near Railway Station in Lahore on Saturday. The premier, while responding to a question, said: "I want to make it clear that the government stands by with the decisions of the Supreme Court and there will be no compromise on it. "If a government does not abide by decisions of the Supreme Court, the country cannot survive and move ahead." He said: "The rule of law depends on following the verdicts of the Supreme Court and if you do not follow the top court's decision, then law becomes dysfunctional in the country."

Imran Khan vowed to come up with a poverty eradication package in the coming days while following the Chinese model to combat the problem. He said in his visit to China, he had discussed the strategy by which they lifted millions of their people out of poverty. He said this would be done through coordinated efforts with the help of all those organs already working on poverty alleviation. “All these organs will work under one umbrella. China saved 700 million from poverty and during the recent visit, the steps taken by China came under discussion to alleviate, eradicate poverty. We are coming up with a package within next seven to 10 days” said Imran Khan.

He said the PTI government spent first two and a half months of its tenure in combating the economic challenges, created by the previous rulers. But the crisis is over now, and it is time to make Pakistan a welfare state. “Now it’s time to remind ourselves everyday that we have to turn our country into a welfare state; and this is the first step in this direction,” added the PM. He said establishing Panah Gah (shelter) is not meant to increase the party vote bank but to facilitate humanity, adding after discussions with the CM, five areas in Lahore were marked where such shelters would be set up.

He lauded the DG LDA for executing the project and stated that not resources, but a strong will is needed. Imran said all the centres where Panah Gah would be established would be state-of-the-art facility. The PM said when steps are taken for the ailing humanity, blessings of Allah are bestowed on the nations. He added setting up the shelter homes was the concept of the Muslim world, which was adopted by the Scandinavian nations, adding that now as a nation, we would move ahead to make Pakistan a welfare state.

The Prime Minister also admitted that when he chose Usman Buzdar as chief minister of Punjab, a lot of people expressed reservations over the decision.But, the PM said he chose Buzdar because he was aware of the problems being faced by a common owing to his connectivity with the deprived part of Punjab. The PM praised Punjab CM Usman Buzdar, saying that in cricket he used to select players and they would become Inzamamul Haq and Waseem Akram. Usman Buzdar will also prove a good selection like Waseem Akram and Inzamamul Haq. “I have chosen a chief minister who belongs to the poor area and there is kindness in his heart for the helpless persons,” said Imran.

Imran Khan, during his visit to Lahore, also chaired a meeting to discuss his initiative of transforming the lives of common man. The meeting set the targets of PTI government for 100 days to ensure all steps that could benefit the citizens. The PM directed the Punjab government to utilise all the resources to facilitate the common citizens. The federal and Punjab cabinet members, senior officials attended the meeting. While reviewing the implementation of Punjab government’s 100-day plan, the prime minister stressed the provincial government to adopt innovative methods in governance. The meeting discussed various proposals and implementation strategies for transformation of governance in Punjab and uplift of the common man, under the supervision of the prime minister as well as the Punjab government. During the meeting, the prime minister was briefed on different targets and priorities of the Punjab government.

Meanwhile, the prime minister posted on his twitter account that the government is committed to building a social net for the poor citizens, so that everyone had a shelter over his/her head and access to health and education. “Today I laid the foundation for 1st of 5 shelters for the homeless in Lahore & one in Pindi to be followed by shelters in other cities.”

The PM took notice of the delay in implementation of Tobacco track and Trace System 2005 designed for curbing the menace of fake cigarette besides issuing directives for putting in place the system as soon as possible. The competition commission has raised objections over the bidding procedure of this system saying it should be simplified so the international companies could also participate. They also objected that the international companies avoided the bidding process due to the complex and cumbersome process and competition due to which only one company participated in the bidding.