ISLAMABAD: Newly elected Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced significant economic relief measures for the public in his first address as Leader of the House.
Speaking on the floor of the house, Sharif announced an increase in the minimum wage of public employees at Rs25,000 per month effective from April 1. He also announces an increase of ten percent in pensions of former government workers.
Announcing the revival of the Benazir Income Support Card, Sharif said that the poverty reduction program would be further expanded across Pakistan. He also noted that the Pakistani currency regained its value, which was trading at Rs190 per dollar and closed at Rs182 per dollar today.
Shehbaz highlighted the importance of hard work and financial independence to regain “lost status” and stressed on dialogue over deadlock to take the economy forward.
Taking a jibe at PTI’s slogan of “tabdeeli” (change), he said, “Change doesn’t come simply by talking.” Shehbaz termed the country’s economic situation “very serious” and emphasised the need for hard work to improve the economy. “The situation is very bad but, God willing, it will change if we work hard.”
He lamented that the previous government had rejected his proposal of introducing a “charter of economy” to improve the economic situation. He went on paint a bleak picture of the country’s economy and blamed the previous government for its economic policies.
He announced that his government would increase the minimum wage to Rs25,000 from April 1. He appealed to investors to increase the salaries of their employees who monthly income was Rs100,000 or less.
He also announced a 10 percent increase in the pension of civil and military pensioners. Shehbaz said wheat flour would be made available at cheaper rates under a Ramazan package.
“Punjab is the elder brother but not the entire Pakistan. We will take smaller provinces along ourselves and move forward,” he added “We will give the youth of Balochistan, erstwhile Fata and other provinces technical education and skills instead of weapons.”
Shehbaz further announced that “Benazir card” would be reintroduced and the programme would be expanded to cover education. While crticising the PTI government over its foreign policy, he lamented that Pakistan’s strategic partners and friends had left us.
Good relations with China, India, US
He underlined the importance of having good ties with China and alleged the previous government weakened relations with the strategic ally. “This friendship is for forever and … I assure that we will make progress on the CPEC,” he added
He further underlined the significance of having good ties with Saudi Arabia, Turkey, European Union, United Arab Emirates, Britain and Iran. He also said ties needed to be strengthened with US on the basis of equality and “we need to raise our voice for Afghanistan” where the situation was dire.
With regards to India, Shehbaz said they wanted good relations but it was conditional on the resolution of Kashmir issue. “We will raise our voice for Kashmiri brother on every forum. We will give them diplomatic and moral support,” he said.
Shehbaz also expressed the resolve to raise voice for Palestinians. He said, “No one is a traitor before and no one is a traitor now”. He emphasised national unity, saying that a “nation is built through consensus”.
