Modi’s anti-Pakistan propaganda baseless: Sarwar

LAHORE: Punjab Governor Chaudhry Sarwar has said that Indian Prime Minister Narendera Singh Modi's campaign against Pakistan lacks substance and is totally baseless.

Speaking at a programme organised by Mir Khalil-ur-Rahman Memorial Society (MKRMS), Jang group of publications, the governor said the Indian PM's tactics to malign Pakistan at the global level was also a result of internal Indian politics and turmoil due to which Modi had been busy in defaming us.

The programme that was held in connection with the 'Educational Edition' of Daily Jang was jointly hosted by MKRMS Chairman Wasif Nagi and Geo Lahore Bureau Chief Raees Ansari. Students from different educational institutions participated in the session and asked questions from the governor on various issues.

Responding to a question, the governor said that Pakistan had always wanted good relationship with its neighbours. To another query, he said Pak-US relationships had witnessed many ebbs and flows and it was also a fact that it was Pakistan that had rendered greatest sacrifices in the war against terrorism in which over 50,000 casualties of Pakistanis occurred. He went on to say that Pakistan was passing through different challenges and around 80 percent of its population had no access to clean drinking water whereas poor population was dying of hunger and food scarcity.

Moreover, he said that 50 percent of Pakistani population was combating different diseases just because of the issues related to drinking water and Hepatitis A, D and disease like polio had really become a serious challenge.

The governor said that Prime Minister Imran Khan wanted to make Pakistan a state like Madina and due to his passion to serve the country the nation was siding with him. However, he said that issues combated by Pakistan needed some time for redress and for that purpose three segments of society, including ulema, universities and media had a vital role to play.

He said that in order to address the water issue, Aab-e-Pak Authority had been established and it was unfortunate that the previous governments did no concrete planning to ensure provision of clean drinking water to the population.

He said that billions of rupees were spent on water supply projects and filtration plants were also set up which were not functioning now. Sarwar stated that he had brought all NGOs on one platform over this issue as collective efforts were needed in this regard adding that committees had also been set up at tehsil level to address this challenge.

The governor also said that water was a very serious issue and predicted that next battles would be fought over it. To another question, the governor said that he got elected as member of British parliament in 1997 and came to Pakistan in the year 2010 adding there was a big difference in Pakistani and British parliament. He said that in Britain, there was a big representation from the middle class and professionals and there, people turn poor from rich when they joined politics whereas here, the situation was different. On the other hand, Sarwar said people turn rich from poor after joining politics.

Regarding the economic situation of the country, the governor said poor people were getting poorer and Pakistan Rupee was getting devalued against the US dollar. Explaining the reason behind the current economic trouble Pakistan was facing, he said it was just because 'we don't promote our local products.' Besides, smuggling of goods had also broken the backbone of the poor segment of society.

He stated that corruption was also a factor whereas no attention had been paid towards the research due to which such challenges had occurred. Tourism was a major industry and Pakistan had great significance in this regard, the governor concluded.