ISLAMABAD, Dec 9 (APP):Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday stressing for inclusive development said it must demonstrate trickle-down effects with the aim of empowering lower strata of society.
He expressed these views in an online address at the concluding session of the 24th Sustainable Development Conference titled: “Beyond the Pandemic: Leaving No One Behind”, held here at Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI).
The prime minister said that the first Muslim state [Riasat-e-Madina], which was a true welfare state used to invest in the wellbeing of the poor, including orphans, widows, and daily wagers.
He further said it proved the best model of development because it led the corner stone of one of the best civilizations, according to press release issued by SDPI.
The prime minister said he believed that any nation that followed this model would rise, adding, China was the best example of that, which in a very short period alleviated 700 million people from poverty.
“China exactly followed the model of Riasat-e-Madina, by bringing meritocracy and investing in the weaker segment of the society and, which made their development more inclusive and leaving no one behind,” he added.
During the times of COVID-19, the prime minister said that there was a great pressure on the present government to announce a complete lockdown, but keeping in view the vulnerabilities of people, they chose to go on smart lockdown.
Like the developed nations, he added, they had no capacity to feed people at their homes during the lockdown.
Because of the smart lock-down, the country’s food supply chains, agriculture and infrastructure sector did not affect, the prime minister said, adding, “In this way we not only saved our poor people from further economic stress, but also saved our economy.“
The prime minister thanked the SDPI for creating food security dashboard for the Government of Pakistan, which helped them in monitoring the situation of daily commodities.
Earlier, at an evening plenary on ‘CPEC in the Emerging Regional Scenario’, National Security Adviser Dr Moeed Yusuf said that Pakistan did not have the kind of resources to cater for the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, whereas to receive international humanitarian aid, the country [Afghanistan] had no operational banking channels.
However, Pakistan would allow every aid to pass on to Afghanistan, he added.
To a question about hosting more Afghans, he said: “We are not in a position to host more refugees, though we are now hosting their third generation.”
He said that the real issue was that how the forthcoming humanitarian crisis could be prevented.
To a question about winning hearts and minds of the Afghani people, he said it was complicated. As during the last 40 years, billions of dollars were spent to develop a narrative against Pakistan, so it was complicated to win the hearts and minds of Afghans, he added.
However, the NSA said that Pakistan was doing what can be possible to help facilitate the brotherly country.
On Sialkot incident, Dr Mooed said that intolerance in any form should not be tolerated and it must be ensured that the writ of the state should not be challenged. He said that the entire nation had to stand up against such heinous crimes.
Dr Mooed said that the issue of intolerance and mob violence in the society needed to be resolved permanently so that such incidents might not happen in future.
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