Development should be inclusive & must demonstrate trickle down effects with aim to empower lower strata of society: PM Imran Khan

ISLAMABAD, Dec 09 (SABAH): Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that development should be inclusive and must demonstrate trickle down effects with the aim to empower lower strata of society.

PM Imran Khan was addressing online the concluding session of SDPI’s 24th Sustainable Development Conference titled: Beyond the Pandemic: Leaving No One Behind. Prime Minister said the first Muslim state, which was a true welfare state it used to invest in the wellbeing of the poor, including orphans, widows, and daily wagers. He further said it proved the best model of development because it led the corner stone of one the best civilizations.

“I believe that any nation that follows this model will rise. China is the best example of this, which in a very short period alleviated 700 million people from poverty. China exactly followed the model of Riasat-e-Madina, by bringing meritocracy and investing in the weaker segment of the society and, which made their development more inclusive and leaving no one behind.”

During the times of COVID-19, the prime minister said there was a great pressure on our government to announce a complete lockdown, but keeping in view the vulnerabilities of our people, we choose to go on smart lockdown. Like the developed nations, he added, we have no capacity to feed people at their homes during the lockdown. Because of the smart lockdown, our food supply chains, agriculture and infrastructure sector did not affect, the premier said, in this way we not only saved our poor people from further economic stress, but also saved our economy. “I pay my thanks to SDPI for creating food security dashboard for the Government of Pakistan, which helps us in monitoring the situation of daily commodities.

Earlier, at an evening plenary on ‘CPEC in the Emerging Regional Scenario’, National Security Adviser to the Prime Minister Dr. Moeed Wasim Yusuf said Pakistan don’t have the kind of resources to cater for the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, whereas to receive international humanitarian aid, the country has no operational banking channels. However, Pakistan would allow every aid to pass on to Afghanistan.

To a question of hosting the brunt of more Afghans, he said: “We are not in a position to host more refugees, though we are now hosting their third generation. He said that the real issue is that how we can prevent the forthcoming humanitarian crises.

To a question of winning heart and minds of the Afghani people, he said its complicated as the During the last 40 years, he said, billions were spent to develop a narrative against Pakistan, so it is complicated to win the hearts and minds of Afghans. However, we are doing what can be possible to help facilitate our brotherly country.

On Sialkot incident, Dr. Mooed said that intolerance in any form should not be tolerated and it must be ensured that the writ of the state should not be challenged. He said the entire nation has to stand up against such heinous crimes.

Dr. Mooed said the issue of intolerance and mob violence in our society need to be resolved permanently so that such incidents might not happen in future.