Prime Minister Imran Khan Tuesday said that India was undoubtedly involved in terrorist activities inside Pakistan, including the attack on the Pakistan Stock Exchange as it was trying to destabilize the country and create an atmosphere of uncertainty.

Speaking in the National Assembly soon after the passage of annual budget, he especially mentioned the valour and huge sacrifices of police personnel and security guards who thwarted the terrorist attack on the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Monday.

He saluted the sacrifices of the 'heroes of Pakistan', including Sub-Inspector Shahid Shaheed, and stock exchange guards Ifitkhar, Khudayar and Hassan Ali. The latter's sister suffered from cardiac arrest and could not survive on hearing the news of the incident.

The prime minister further said the terrorists, armed with weapons, had arrived with nefarious designs to take people at the PSX as hostage, but the police and security personnel frustrated their plan.

Imran Khan said the country's intelligence agencies were on high alert. 'Four major terrorist acts have been thwarted and preempted, including two around the Federal Capital Islamabad,' he said, adding it was a huge success and appreciated the performance and vigilance of the intelligence agencies.

Prime Minister Imran Khan expressing his strong resolve to transform the country on the pattern of State of Madina, said all those, who had plundered and looted the public money, would have to face the law no matter how much political pressures they exerted on his government.

He said the authority vested with a person like him was a temporary thing, but the adherence to lofty ideas and continuation of struggle were key to surmount all ordeals.

Coming hard upon the opposition parties, the prime minister wondered why they had been opposing his government as some among them were claiming of being 'liberals' while the others were brandishing their 'religious' clout. They had only one agenda to cover up their corruption.

'They are out to pull down the government so that their misdeeds of corruption and graft should not surface. They have such fears lurking in their minds,' he said declaring that no one could pull down his government unless they stood by their stance and principles.

'The ups and downs are common spectacles in one's long and hard struggle, but one should not surrender one's aims and ideas,' he stressed.

The prime minister said he lived in his own house and was bearing all his domestic expenditures without fear of losing the office.

The opposition's hopes of 'minus one' could not succeed, and in case he did not remain in office, the other members of his party (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf) would not spare those elements tainted with corruption and money laundering cases, he added.

As regards Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto, the prime minister said he got the party's leadership without any struggle. 'Jub barish hota hai tou pani ata hai, aur jub bohat barish hota hai to bohat pani ata hai,' he mimicked the PPP leader.

While about Khawaja Asif's criticism, he said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader was serving in a foreign company at a time when he was serving the country as a foreign minister.

The governments of Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif, he added, had eroded the morality of the country with their rampant and teeming trails of corruption.

The prime minister said the opposition parties were hoping to get any NRO (National Reconciliation Ordinance) like legislation to evade legal proceedings, but they would not get any as the two NROs granted by Musharraf in the past had caused irreparable losses to the country and destroyed the very fabric of society.

The prime minister said he had promised the nation about his vision of the State of Madina, in which the downtrodden and poor segments of society were lifted and taken care of.

Deflating the opposition leaders' criticism, he said he did not mind their words and cited a maxim 'mind over matter'.

Imran Khan said Khawaja Asif as the foreign minister claimed during an interview with the Asia Society that his party (PML-N) was liberal but the PTI had religious affiliations.

'Indeed, such leaders are liberally corrupt,' the prime minister maintained and regretted that for decades such-like leaders in order to save their skin had been repeatedly pronouncing during the US visits that they were the only liberals while the others were hardliners.

'Take out all my statements about the State of Madina, which had been consistent,' he said, adding for the first time he had told the United Nations General Assembly about the functions of the Riasat-e-Madina, which was created on the principles of equity, equality, justice, compassion, social security and lifting of the conditions of downtrodden.

He said Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) raised the moral standards of his people. But in Pakistan, during the last 30 years, corrupt regimes had degraded the morality, he added.

The prime minister also referred to Nawaz Sharif's claims, which he had made as prime minister in the National Assembly about his properties.

All his documents later proved as fake in the Supreme Court, including the Qatari letter, he said, adding when the leader of the country lied about his money laundering and plundering of the public money what kind of moral values they had cultivated and what message they sent abroad.

The people like Khawja Asif were not democrats as they kept on defending such corrupt elements, who had been convicted by the Supreme Court, he maintained.

He said the prime minister, foreign minister and defence minister all had been working as employees abroad, which even did not happen in a banana republic. They were not being paid with salaries but something else.

How the country's burden of loan ballooned from Rs 6 trillion to Rs 30 trillion in a decade during their governments, the prime minister questioned.

About the fiscal budget, the prime minister appreciated his economic team by saying that presentation of budget in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic was the most difficult task.

The revenue collection, which was set as about Rs 4,900 billion, had been reduced to Rs 3,900 billion due to the effects of lockdown, he said and warned that they were not out of the woods yet, because no country in the world could predict the exact negative impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.

Mentioning the impacts of lockdown, he said the provinces enjoyed autonomy after the adoption of 18th Constitutional Amendment, but in case they had sought his approval for a complete lockdown like in Sindh province, he would not have surely acceded to it.

After witnessing the lockdowns in Europe and in the Chinese city of Wuhan, such a lockdown was enforced in Sindh affecting daily wagers and labourers, he added.

He said Pakistan with 80 per cent informal economy could not afford such lockdowns. The tourism industry got a major hit, besides small private schools in villages where the teachers had not been getting salaries for months.

The prime minister also defended his stance over smart lockdown, which, he said, was the only option to face the pandemic and economic hardships.

He also appreciated his Special Assistant Dr Sania Nishtar and his team for distribution of huge amounts under the flagship Ehsaas programme in the shortest time and in a most transparent manner.

Terming the generation of revenues another huge challenge, Imran Khan said they could not predict when the tax collection would surge, and quoted Charles Dickens that it could be the best of times.

The prime minister also stressed upon introduction of reforms in the government-owned bleeding and loss making entities and corporations, including the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) and the Pakistan International Airlines.

He also termed the accumulation of power sector circular debt a huge liability inherited from the past regimes.

He said all the entities required drastic changes and reforms, and indicated that the government was ready for such changes.

Those elements would resist such steps, who had been taking advantage from the status quo and corruption, he said and cited the PIA, which had been once a pride of the nation but was now running into massive losses due to certain mafias.

In 11 years, he said, its 10 chief executives had been changed while the incumbent was dragged into legislation, he said.

The prime minister termed the reforms imperative for the power sectors, Railways, PSM and PIA. He said in the Pakistan Steel Mills, the government had alone paid Rs 3,400 billion for the salaries. The PPP government had made political inductions in the PIA and the Steel Mills, and destroyed them.

In the first year of his government, he said, out of record Rs 4,000 billion total revenue collection, they had to pay Rs 2,000 billion as interest on loans. If they did not address the issues, things would be further compounded, he warned.

He said there were cartels in different sectors and cited the working of such coterie in the sugar business in which a set clique made windfall profits but shied from sharing their responsibilities towards the country and the countrymen by paying taxes.

Expressing his resolve, the prime minister said it was his government's mission that all cartels would be made answerable before the law.

The monopolies and cartels, he said, could not function without the patronizing of the past governments. Asif Zardari and Nawaz Sharif owned sugar mills to whiten their black money, he added.

He said inquires would be held into all sectors and the government would trace all the elements, who had looted the country.

The prime minister also lauded the services of doctors, medical staff, paramedical staff and workers, and assured that the government would fully assist them. He also thanked the allied parties, minorities' representatives and women legislators for their support in the passage of the fiscal budget.

© Pakistan Press International, source Asianet-Pakistan