Tarar for unity, empowering youth as per Iqbal’s vision

LAHORE: Federal Information and Broadcasting Minister Ataullah Tarar has said the government is committed to forging unity among political forces and empowering the youth as per the vision of Poet of the East Allama Dr Muhammad Iqbal.

Talking to media after visiting Allama Iqbal’s mausoleum on his 147th birth anniversary here on Saturday, he said there was never such an urgent need to implement Iqbal’s philosophy as today, adding that adherence to Iqbal’s thoughts was the path to prosperity. The government is committed to empowering the youth as per the vision of Allama Iqbal and various initiatives have been launched to carve out their bright future. Paying glowing tribute to the “Dreamer of Pakistan”, he said Iqbal was revered all over the globe as a visionary and the Muslim Ummah needed to follow his concept of “Khudi”.

He said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) government always endeavored to keep the country first and unite political parties on a common national agenda, adding that efforts to put the country’s economy on the right track were coming to fruition. Foreign investments are pouring in due to the efforts of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Foreign remittances have soared while dearness is receding. “Saudi businesses like Aramco and Albaik are setting up ventures in Pakistan while Abu Dhabi businesses are also ready to invest. The Azerbaijan government has promised to invest two billion dollars,” he said, adding that the premier was inviting investment instead of loans. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Azerbaijan are making a collective investment of 11 billion dollars in the country and this will create new opportunities for the youth.

He said Pakistan had a huge skilled manpower and this was a source of precious remittances. “The government is committed to promoting business-to-business (B2B) rather than government-to-government (G2G) ventures.” On the foreign policy front, he said the holding of SCO summit in Pakistan was a great success as the prime ministers of 12 countries attended it, adding that many countries were supporting Pakistan for the membership of Brics. The rupee is stronger today while flour and petrol prices have been slashed.

He said May 9 anarchists were bent upon destabilizing the country, adding that who stopped the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government from paying heed to education, health and youth affairs of the province. “Instead of paying homage to Allama Iqbal on his birth anniversary today, the PTI is holding a protest rally in Swabi.”

On Palestine, he said Kashmir and Palestine issues should be above political interests, adding that nobody from the PTI condemned the statement of Zak Goldsmith in favour of Israel. Why a single political party did not participate in the All Parties Conference (APC) on Palestine that was convened by the government. The Al-Qadir University was a sham project for which acres were ill-gotten by the PTI founder.

On a terrorist attack on the Quetta Railway Station, he said all steps would be taken to eradicate terrorism from the country and law-enforcement agencies were committed to the cause, adding that the PTI founder brought Taliban leaders back and put the national security at risk. On the 26th Constitutional Amendment, he said there was no chance of a lawyers movement as the amendment embodied the decades-long demands of theirs on the formation of a judicial commission and appointment of the SC chief justice. He said lawyers were unanimous on the amendment.

He said the ICC Champions Trophy even had been allocated to Pakistan and would be held in Pakistan, Cricket should be free of political agendas. He extended best wishes to the ailing President Asif Ali Zardari.