ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has said the government will provide all possible assistance to promote film and drama industry in the country.
The Prime Minister said this while addressing the launching ceremony of documentary drama titled “Pani Ke Punkh” on Thursday afternoon.
The Prime Minister stressed the need for focusing on producing original content instead of copying others. He said, “Pakistani nation has huge potential and we will have to repose confidence in ourselves to tap this hidden talent.” He recalled that Pakistan was leading in the drama industry, adding: “We will have to strive hard for reviving this past glory.”
Talking about availability of water and opportunities for hydropower, Imran Khan said that unfortunately, past regimes did not focus on long-term planning and went for short-term planning to get immediate results to win elections. He said they signed the most expensive power generation agreements in the subcontinent and ignored building dams to generate cheaper and clean-green energy.
He maintained, “Under these agreements, the government is compelled to spend billions of rupees as capacity payments to Independent Power Producers (IPPs) even if we do not have the need to buy electricity from them.” He further said these capacity payments will likely reach Rs1,500 billion in 2023.
Imran Khan said that it is the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government, which decided to build two dams in Pakistan after a gap of five decades. He said that Mohmand Dam is likely to be completed soon. He said the government is focusing on hydropower to generate cheap electricity and to overcome climate change hazards as well.
The Prime Minister said that Pakistan must always aim to be self-reliant and not be afraid to have lofty dreams. “People talk about projecting a soft image for Pakistan. What does a soft image even mean? […] Will the world begin to think very highly of us then?” said the Premier.
He said that Pakistan must not fall for this misconception. “This is having an inferiority complex. When a country loses self-confidence, it begins to think of how to please others,” the Prime Minister said. “We must never think of doing something that the West wants. Like when Musharraf spoke of ‘enlightened moderation’. […] No one knew what it was. People thought the more they look like people from the West, the more they will seem moderate,” the PM said, adding that a nation only does such things when it lacks confidence.
Imran Khan said it was a major mistake to take part in “someone else’s war”, referring to Pakistan supporting the US post 9/11 in the fight against terrorism. “We fell under pressure and took part in their war […] First we took part in the [Soviet-Afghan War] in the 80s and glorified the mujahideen […] And then after 9/11, we labelled them terrorists and at their bidding began fighting them,” said the Premier, adding that of course Pakistan then “suffered”.
Criticising the opposition for saying that the incumbent government had gathered more debt for Pakistan, he reminded them that when PTI came into power, the country had a debt of Rs25,000 billion. Of the Rs11,000 settled, Rs6,000 went in the way of interest payments, he said. He went on to say that due to a rupee depreciation, the debt rose by Rs3,000 billion.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that provision of quality health facilities to common people is top priority of the government.
Chairing a meeting to review progress on provision of health cards in Punjab, Imran Khan said that provision of health protection to the poor was not given due attention in the past.
Appreciating the progress made so far in providing health cards to the population of Punjab, he said health cards will enable the poor segment of society to get quality medical across Pakistan.
The meeting was briefed on progress made so far in providing health cards to the 100 percent population of Punjab by the end of this year. The meeting was told that Punjab’s 100 percent population would get the card by 2021 end while seven more districts would be provided with the cards by the end of June 2021.
The Prime Minister lauded the progress on the provision of health cards in Punjab.
The meeting was attended by Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar, Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid and senior federal and provincial officials while CM Punjab Usman Buzdar and Punjab finance minister attended the meeting via video link.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed to ensure provision of best possible facilities to university students as the country’s future is directly linked with the standard of education.
Chairing a meeting on Thursday regarding administrative, financial and teaching matters of universities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab, the Prime Minister instructed to devise a comprehensive mechanism to improve performance of heads of universities. He also directed to appoint experienced professionals on administrative posts to improve administrative-cum financial matters of the varsities. – TLTP