PTI govt interested in investment, not loans: Fawad Chaudhry

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry on Tuesday said Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf’s (PTI) government was not interested in taking loans but keen to attract investment.

Saudi Arabia was the first country which was taking interest in energy and petroleum sectors with huge investment, he stated while talking to a private news channel. “We wish that Saudi Arabia should make a heavy investment in Pakistan, “ he said.

Saudi Arabia and UAE were also interested in Gwadar projects and we wanted more countries to bring their money for investment purpose here, he added.

Due to the rate of interest, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and UAE could take the advantage and benefits from Pakistan, Ch Fawad said.

Imran Khan’s main purpose was to change Pakistan by taking concrete steps for benefiting the people of this country, he said.

Saudi Arabia had given a warm welcome to Prime Minister Imran Khan during his recent visit to Holy places, he said. Prime Minister Imran Khan wanted better relations with all the neighbouring countries including Afghanistan, he added.

During the prime minister’s visit to Saudi Arabia, there was no discussion regarding Nawaz Sharif, the information minister added.

To a question, he said if the court ordered to bring back Pervez Musharraf, then the government would implement the orders.

To another question he said system could not run if civil and military had lack of support for each other.

Commenting on PTI’s performance during the past 20 days, he said the newly established government had introduced the third party induction after reviewing the CPEC policy,  besides making structural reforms in FBR, he said.

He added that 25,00,000 saplings were planted by the government in just few weeks after coming into power besides bringing reforms in education system.

Expressing serious concerns over the policies of Pakistan Peoples Party’s government during 2008-13, he said Khursheed Shah had inducted about one lac and sixty three thousand people in different institutions of the country.

The government had been bearing the burden of PTV and PBC by providing over 600 billion rupees to these organisations. Ishrat Hussain had established a task force and working to improve economy, he added.

To a query, he said the National Accountability Bureau should take measures to check Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry’s influence used for benefiting his son-in-law who took the money of the people in a private housing society scam.

To a question about money laundering of Asif Ali Zardari, he said it was strange that some vendors, students and others had accounts of worth billions of rupees.

He said the PTI government had taken action against land mafia and encroachers, adding a target had been set to get back 35 to 40,000 kanal of lands from mafia. He said in a couple of days, an operation would be launched against the encroachments and land mafia in Karachi.

About FATA, he said police check posts had been established and fencing of the border linking Pakistan with Afghanistan was done to check the illegal infiltrators to this part of the region. We want to protect our side from the illegal trespassers, he added.