KARACHI: Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal on Tuesday said that the Panama trial in the country had dented economic momentum, causing huge losses of over $14 billion to the national kitty.
“Prudent policies had resulted in good momentum economy during the last four years. However, despite the jerk to government as well as national economy, we are hoping to achieve economic growth of 6 per cent for current fiscal year,” he said while addressing a press conference.
The minister said if the government was allowed to work smoothly, growth rate could reach 6.15 per cent or even 6.3 per cent. He said the World Bank (WB) report had included Pakistan among the top five countries where private investment structure was very attractive.
Ahsan Iqbal, who is also the minister for Planning and Development, said image of rising economy had not been created in the world automatically. “It was PML-N’s government which worked hard to put the country’s economy on right path,” he said.
The minister said that when he had become interior minister, it was difficult to get license for a bullet proof vehicle. “Now, the process to get this license had been made easier. However, the license holder will have to pay taxes worth Rs 500,000 to the national exchequer,” he said.
Regarding finality of Prophethood of Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him), he said, there was no need to create any issue on that matter as all the stakeholders, including parliament, the opposition, and the government were on the same page and they all believed in the finality of Prophethood (peace be upon him).
He questioned why some groups wanted to hold demonstrations on that issue. He said holding peaceful demonstrations was right of every person in democracy. “If the demonstrators want to create anarchy, the government would take necessary steps to safeguard important public buildings and diplomatic enclave in the federal capital,” he said.
The minister urged all such groups to stage a demonstration in Parade Ground instead of entering the Red Zone.
Published in Daily Times, October 25th 2017.
