Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar has said that he does not understand why the IMF is being presented as an enemy, stressing that the biggest problem in Pakistan on the contrary is an imbalance between its resources and expenditures, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
The interim premier expressed these views while talking to a delegation of Harvard University’s students in Islamabad on Saturday. The students also interacted with the Chief of Army Staff Gen Asim Munir yesterday.
During his interaction with the students, PM Kakar said that Pakistan wanted a long-term collaborative partnership with America. He held that we had a positive and constructive relationship with the US.
“It is not necessary to agree on every issue with the US. There is agreement and disagreement between the countries on various issues. We want a long-term partnership with the United States. Pakistan has fought a long war with the US. We have played an important role in establishing global peace while closely cooperating with America,” the premier maintained.
The caretaker prime minister said that a big superpower Russia remained in our neighbourhood. The Western Allies under the leadership of America also stationed in our neighbourhood. Pakistan worked closely with America to establish global peace, he added.
He said Pakistan had contributed hugely towards the global peace and economy. They had faced a lot of challenges in the past as the two powers of the world - the US and Russia - had been in its milieu which had implications, he added.
PM Kakar, explaining a viewpoint, said that priorities by different governments in Pakistan kept on changing, but they did have visions and tried to visualize those visions. He also deliberated upon the history and creation of Pakistan.
Appreciating the progress achieved by the American society, he said the diversification in the US society was an example for other countries to follow, adding their society was tolerant and what the US had produced in the domains of knowledge and skills was amazing.
He said the other countries ought to learn from it for their own benefit.
Kakar said that he did not understand why the IMF was being presented as an enemy as the real issue in Pakistan was an imbalance between our resources and expenditures.
When asked about the economic situation, PM Kakar said that the interim government would focus more on rationalizing the expenditures, generations of revenue and development of human resources during its short constitutional period.
He said in Pakistan, about 9 per cent population was contributing towards GDP with their taxes.
He said Pakistan was gifted with natural resources. He said these not only included minerals but also talented people. He expressed the confidence that Pakistan would come out of the economic quagmire.
He said the government was focusing on producing high-tech educated and skilled human resources and cited a couplet of Allama Iqbal in which he had hinted at the importance of human resources through individual and collective efforts. “Pakistani diaspora in the US is a success story itself,” he said, adding the Americans knew the Pakistanis who were contributing to their society.
The prime minister, to another question, said that democracy gave strength to parliament and mentioned that in Pakistan, in the last 15 years, three successive democratic governments had completed their tenures.
“Democracy is a process. We are committed to the performance and participatory process of democracy,” he said.
The prime minister also underscored the importance of the continuation of the social order and the maintenance of the rule of law. The prime minister said that Pakistan had been positively engaged with the US on different issues, adding there were also conversions and diversions between both countries on various global issues.
Responding to a question, he said Pakistan had been the biggest victim of climate disaster which was a global issue. The climate change had become an existential threat, he added.
PM Kakar also emphasized on close cooperation between the two countries to deal with the climate challenges.
He opined that the world viewed the US as a big power but at the same time, expected it to turn itself into a green power.