Today, the people of Pakistan are celebrating the 68th Independence Day of their beloved country with extraordinary national fervour and enthusiasm. Pakistan came into being on this day, 67 years ago, as a result of immense sacrifices rendered by our forefathers. The day reminds us to pay rich tributes to our elders whose untiring efforts led to the creation of Pakistan.
Since 1947, Pakistan experienced various ups and down but continued its journey towards prosperity and development. It faced enormous challenges on economic and security fronts but it successfully continued its struggle to overcome the challenges. It is a matter of great satisfaction that Pakistan has made remarkable progress during the last 67 years in the areas of defence, agriculture, industry and economy. The present government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, has been making persistent efforts to work for the political, economic, social, agricultural and industrial advancement of the country. The government has initiated a number of mega projects in the socio-economic and energy sectors which would, undoubtedly, bring unprecedented prosperity to the country in the years ahead. Externally, the government is also focusing on improving its relations with neighbouring countries, Islamic states and the western world. I would like to highlight briefly the achievements made by the present democratic government in various sectors.
Economic Achievements:
The government has shown excellent economic performance during its first year in office. It is really encouraging that the national economy has shown signs of recovery and economic indicators have started moving upward. The government is seriously working to increase exports by exploring new avenues for the Pakistani products. The timely and effective measures by the government resulted in the increase of foreign exchange reserves to $ 14.3 billion and would, hopefully, further increase to $ 15 billion by the end of December 2014. Similarly, the government adopted a wise strategy to stabilize Pakistani rupee against the US dollar. The value of rupee appreciated against the dollar to 98 from 111 a few months back. The foreign remittances also surged to US$ 15.83 billion from US$ 13.93 billion during the last financial year. The revenue collection by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) witnessed an increase Rs.2266 billion and, likewise, the exports jumped to US$ 25.13 billion during the last financial year (2013-14). The growth rate of GDP by 4.14 percent is also a healthy development as it was achieved for the first time after six years. It is also heartening that the foreign investors and international financial lending agencies have not only reposed their confidence over the financial policies of the government but have also lauded the economic measures which have started paying the dividends. The allocation of huge amount of Rs. 525 billion, under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP), is also indicative of the fact that the economy is showing strength. There is no doubt that the credit for the successful economic policies goes to the leadership of the Prime Minister of Pakistan and his team.
Mega Projects in Energy Sector:
Realizing the acute energy shortage facing the country, the government decided to initiate mega projects in the energy sector aimed at to address the energy needs of the country. In this regard, the government has planned to construct Dasu Hydro Project in District Kohistan for which international funding has been secured. Apart from Dasu Hydro Project, the land acquisition process for the Diamir Bhasha Dam has already been initiated. The government is not only working on the building of hydro projects but also want to construct coal-based projects in the country. In this regard, the Prime Minister of Pakistan inaugurated two major coal-based power generation plants in Sahiwal and Port Qasim (each having a generation capacity of 1320 MW) and the combined production of both the plants would be 2640 MW. We must be thankful to China which is assisting Pakistan in meeting our energy needs as it would assist Pakistan in constructing various energy projects that would generate 10400 MW of electricity. The completion of the projects would be really a major leap forward as these would not only help in fulfilling the energy requirement of the consumers, but would also benefit the industrial sector contributing towards the economic development of the country.
Regional Connectivity & Infrastructure Development
Promotion of regional connectivity and infrastructure development are one of the most important priorities of the present government. The government strongly believes that promotion of regional connectivity with the neighbouring countries, particularly with Afghanistan and China, through motorways and railway links would generate economic and job opportunities as well as bring prosperity to the region. In this context, Pakistan is seriously working to build Pak-China Economic Corridor - with Chinese cooperation - linking both the neighbouring countries through road and railway links. The corridor would link Gwadar Port in Balochistan with China’s Xinjian province and its completion would not only strengthen regional economic cooperation but would tremendously benefit Pakistan as well. The construction of motorways and railway links from Jalalabad to Peshawar and Chaman to Spin Boldak are also the future priorities of Pakistan. Surly, the completion of these projects would bring economic revolution in the region. The Prime Minister of Pakistan has also promised to turn Gwadar Port into an International Port which would generate enormous economic opportunities and jobs. Besides, the government is also committed to construct Karachi-Lahore Motorway and Rs. 55 billion funds has already been released for the purchase of land to initiate work on the project.
Vision 2025
The government has launched a socio-economic uplift programme namely, “Vision 2025” to transform Pakistan into an economically vibrant and prosperous country. The principal objective of the programme is to put Pakistan on the fast track sustainable economic development. The government, under the said programme, has set a target to increase the exports from the existing US$ 25 billion to US$ 150 billion by the year 2025. The materialization of the Vision 2025 would considerably help in the reduction of poverty and creating of job opportunities in the country. In order to promote education and encourage talented and deserving students, the Prime Minister of Pakistan launched Rs.10 billion National Human Development Endowment Fund which would be used for the provision of scholarships to 50,000 talented and deserving students. The Vision 2025 programme also set up a Technology Innovation Fund of Rs. 5 billion that would fund 5,000 Ph.D scholarships.
Measures against Militancy and Terrorism
In order to curb and eliminate terrorism and militancy from Pakistan, the Armed Forces of the country have been vigorously fighting against terrorists and extremist elements and have succeeded, to a major extent, to break the back bone of terrorists. The operation, launched by the security forces in N-Waziristan on 25th June, 2014, has successfully been achieving its objectives as it has destroyed the control and command centres of the terrorists and they were forced to flee. Since the start of operation, no major terrorist incident has taken place in the country which is manifestation of the fact that the network and sanctuaries of the terrorists have been destroyed. The security forces have so far killed over 607 terrorists and have destroyed 30 IEDs factories, three ammunition making factories and a number of suicide bombers training centres. The important towns, including Boya, Deegan, Miran Shah and Mir Ali have been cleared of the terrorist and extremist elements. The operation resulted in the displacement of about a million people and the government made effective arrangements for the provision of their basic necessities. The government is fully alive to the needs of the temporarily displaced people and has, so far, distributed Rs. 1.76 billion among them. The international community has widely acknowledged Pakistan efforts against the war on terror in this regard.
Relations with Afghanistan
Improving and expanding bilateral relations with Afghanistan is one of the basic objectives of the foreign policy of Pakistan. Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif accords top priority to improving and strengthening its relations with Afghanistan in all areas of mutual benefits. He visited Kabul in November 2013 and announced to increase the amount of assistance for development and reconstruction of Afghanistan to US$ 500 million. He also increased the number of scholarships for Afghan students to 3000. On the instructions of Prime Minister, Finance Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar visited Afghanistan in February 2014 to hold the meeting of Pak-Afghan Joint Economic Commission.
Pakistan has been trying to work for the peace and stability and socio-economic development of Afghanistan. In this context, Pakistan has executed a number of projects in Afghanistan in health and education sectors, including 400-bed Jinnah Hospital, Kabul; Nishtar Kidney Centre, Jalalabad; 200-bed Naeb Aminullah Khan Hospital, Logar; Liaquat Ali Khan University Balkh, Rehman Baba School and Hostel, Kabul; Allama Iqbal Faculty of Arts, Kabul, Sir Syed Post Graduate Faculty of Sciences, Nangarhar University and 75 km Torkham-Jalalabad Road and would continue to assist its brotherly country in the future as well. In order to improve regional connectivity and facilitate the Afghan people and traders, Pakistan is planning to construct Peshawar-Jalalabad Motorway and Railway link and Chaman-Kandahar Railway link.
Afghanistan is very important neighbour of Pakistan and we would continue to play our role for the promotion of peace and development of Afghanistan as the future destinies of the two countries are inter-linked. It is need of the hour to develop a strong partnership and robust cooperation by both the neighbour countries to surmount the challenges of militancy, terrorism and economic and social backwardness.