A day after terror attack, PM says terrorists’ backbone broken

• Nawaz Sharif tells Davos moot terrorists are on the run because of Zarb-e-Azb’s success and are now hitting soft targets in retaliation
• Says Pakistan is experiencing turnaround, investment is pouring in
• CPEC not limited to Pakistan, will benefit the entire region
• GDP growth rate increases to 4.2pc and will cross 5pc; Inflation has gone down by 2pc, unemployment also seeing sharp decline

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday said that his government has successfully addressed the challenges of terrorism, energy shortages and economic revival and Pakistan was now fast heading towards a promising and prosperous future.

He was giving a talk on “Regions in Transformation – South Asia” at the Congress Centre.

The prime minister shared with the participants the perspective of Pakistan in the regional context. The event was held in the form of a panel discussion that was moderated by Lisa Gibbs, Business Editor of the Associated Press, involving a question-answer session.

The focus of prime minister’s talk was on “Infrastructure and energy security threats, economic inequality and job creation and impact of regional integration initiatives.”

The other participants included Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickremesinghe, Yunus Centre Chairman Muhammad Yunus, ICICI Bank’s Chanda Kochhar and Asian Development Bank President Takeshiko Nakao.

The prime minister said that the decision to launch military operation Zarb-e-Azb was taken after careful consideration, it was calculated and 180,000 troops were committed to it. The men and women deployed yielded very good results, he added.

“We were able to destroy their infrastructure and dismantle their networks, hideouts and sanctuaries and this has broken their back.

“We knew that the blowback would be severe. It was severe when the operation was started and now the terrorists are on the run and they are choosing soft targets,” the prime minister said.

He referred to the tragic incident of the terrorist attack at the Bacha Khan University in Charsadda a day earlier, and said the university proved to be an easy target for the terrorists and precious lives were lost.

However, he said that the ability of the terrorists to strike back has been considerably weakened. He said that Pakistan has paid a very heavy price in terms of lives, apart from economic losses of more than hundred billion dollars.

“However our resolve to fight terrorists is getting stronger,” Sharif said.

The prime minister said it was very important for his government to tackle the challenges it inherited, as soon as his government came into power. He said these involved reviving national economy, power shortage, and scourge of terrorism.

“So I think we were successful on all these three fronts and with the terrorism coming down, and militancy reducing, the economy is picking up.”

He mentioned that Pakistan’s economy was on the right track and his country was getting an investment of US 46 billion US from China alone.

He said that CPEC was not limited to Pakistan alone rather it would benefit the entire region. He said more than half of world’s population stands to gain from the CPEC that would link many countries and regions to boost trade.

Sharif mentioned that the country’s GDP growth rate was three per cent, now it was four point two per cent, and he was expecting it to cross five per cent. Inflation was down to two per cent, unemployment was also declining sharply, and at the same time, revenues were increasing at a rate of 33 per cent.

Responding to a question about creation of jobs and employment opportunities, the prime minister said a number of institutions in Pakistan were providing necessary skills to young people to help them learn new skills.

He said his government has launched many schemes for the SME and youth to provide loans to help them start their own business. The government was providing loans to 50 per cent women, as “we want to encourage our young people and Small and Medium Enterprises as they will serve as the backbone of our industries.”

“A very good turnaround is taking place in Pakistan and investment is pouring in,” Sharif said.

The prime minister said that his government was providing jobs to the jobless, while the government was also pumping its own money to help the applicants get loans on lower rates from the banks. He said the youth of the country were the real driving force and would take the country forward. He said foreign and domestic investment was on the rise with the decline in terrorist incidents, however the said operations would continue until the elimination of the last terrorist. He said foreign companies were pumping in more money in Pakistan, while the local investors too were playing their part. He said most of the investment was going into the energy sector.

He said the challenge of energy was being taken care of. Pakistan was building three major dams that would generate 17,000 MWs. He also mentioned coal, solar and wind mills that would help 10,000 MW by end of 2017 or start of 2018.

He mentioned the decline in international oil prices and said lower prices have been passed on to the nation and have helped boost national economy. He said similarly the price of electricity has also declined and helped the industrial sector tremendously, helping boost their output and lowered costs.

The prime minister said that work on the Turkmenistan Afghanistan Pakistan and India (TAPI) gas pipeline would boost country’s industrial sector. He said Gwadar Port would be one of the most modern ports and help the landlocked countries of Central Asian Republics and Afghanistan get access to country’s deep-sea port.

He said the country witnessed a great setback to its economy due to nationalisation policy of ’70s. He said his government was now pursuing a de-nationalisation program and said it would help the private sector enter many new areas and boost the economy. He said it would help the country get large taxes through the involvement of private sector.

Prime Minister Sharif pointed out that his government has undertaken privatisation of banks, financial institutions, and industries.

The other participants conveyed their grief over the loss of precious lives in the terror strike on Bacha Khan University and said the challenge of terrorism needs to be addressed through cooperation.