Will not spare corrupt cartels in Pakistan: PM Imran

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday has reiterated that he will not spare corrupt cartels in Pakistan.

He expressed his views in an interview with the private news channel as his party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is celebrating second anniversary in power.

Commenting on his biggest achievements, PM Imran said that his biggest achievement in the past two years of government was setting Pakistan’s direction towards becoming a welfare state.

 “If someone asks me what I did for the country during my tenure, I will say that I have set its direction right to realize the dream of its forefathers,” the premier added.

The premier further said that he had faced immense challenges throughout his life but two-year as premier of the country was the toughest among all of them. “From sports to politics, my entire life is all about struggle. However, I confronted the challenges with a spirit to never give up,” he added.

“When I took over power in 2018 all institutions of the country were in disarray and the country’s economy was on verge of collapse,” the prime minister added.

He said, “The country was going to default on debts, our fiscal deficit was huge and there were a lot of irregularities in the power sector due to which we are unable to provide cheap electricity to industry.”

PM Imran maintained that due to his government’s successful policies the country’s primary budget has been balanced. “If you exclude loan payments there is no deficit in the budget anymore,” he added.

Referring to the State of Medina concept, he said that his struggle was aimed at making Pakistan an Islamic welfare state. “Pakistan came into being to implement the concept of an Islamic welfare state with an objective to uplift the downtrodden segments,” he added.

He pointed out that his government’s policies are also aimed at raising the living standard of the underprivileged segment of society. “If you have to prosper, you have to adopt policies of Madina and my government is struggling to make this country a welfare state,” he remarked.

Commenting on the hike in the prices of sugar and wheat, he asserted that the people were forced to pay higher prices due to the monopoly of cartels in these sectors.

“But I can assure that I am not part of any cartel like past rulers who had their own sugar mills and formulated policies which favoured them instead of the masses,” he added.

“No matter what my government will never succumb to the blackmailing of cartels and will eliminate these corrupt elements from the society,” he concluded.