External threats should be tackled with unity: Ahsan Iqbal

• Interior minister says PML-N turned around country’s economy

LAHORE: Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal on Saturday said that in the face of “extreme external challenges”, the only way forward for Pakistan is to maintain internal unity.

Talking to private TV channel in an interview, the interior minister said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is trying its level best to stabilize the country, adding any internal destabilization will be granting the enemy’s wishes,” he stressed.

Ahsan said the problems of the country cannot be solved by just one political party, leader or institution; anyone who claims of solving the country’s problems singlehandedly is in need of introspection.

Commenting on the PML-N right to choose its chief, the minister said only the PML-N and the voters have to right to choose the party president, adding the Supreme Court or any other institution doesn’t have the right to select a party’s leader.

Alluding to the Panama Case judgement in which the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was compared to the ‘Godfather’, Ahsan said “godfathers or mafia” don’t appear before the accountability courts.

Showing his full trust in Nawaz, Ahsan said no one can match the political acumen of the ex-PM and also termed his leadership really important regarding the problems being faced by Pakistan.

In response to a question about martial law, the interior minister said that he doesn’t think that there is any possibility of a martial law administrator’s decision to dismiss the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan.

“I completely reject the possibility of martial law administration in Pakistan because this decision would be a decision against our motherland,” Iqbal said. “Our military establishment has a clear stance on the same.”

Earlier in the day, Ahsan Iqbal said that Pakistan, despite all hurdles, was rapidly moving ahead towards the goal of economic development and political stability. He said the PML-N government was fulfilling its all promises made with the public including raising their living standard besides overcoming the energy crisis.

Addressing the participants after inaugurating the NADRA office in Narowal, the minister said the PML-N had won the general election of 2013 on the promise of development and it fulfilled its commitment, besides ending terrorism and energy shortage to a larger extent.

Lauding NADRA for its efforts, he said the registration authority played a key role in the elimination of terrorism from the country.

In 2013, Pakistan was considered the most dangerous country in the world due to terrorism and deteriorating law and order situation, but due to party’s strong policies, the government had been able to overcome these issues, including energy shortage.

The minister said the PML-N government had added around 10,000 MW of electricity to the national grid in the last four years as compared to 16,000 MW, which were added in the last 66 years.

He said that the national industrial development wheel was successfully moving ahead towards the goal of the industrial stability as well. He said the PML-N government had completed a record number of social welfare and human development projects across the country.

Ahsan Iqbal termed the development of infrastructure from Gilgit to Gwadar an important milestone in the history of the country. He said that the project of Kachhi Canal had also been initiated in Dera Bugti which would provide water to around 72,000 acres of land.

Ahsan Iqbal said that China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project would change the destiny of Pakistan, as the two countries were taking ahead the project to its next stages successfully.

Earlier, interior minister Ahsan Iqbal launched the advanced One Window Operation services for 1.7 million population of Narowal district at the newly established NADRA centre in Narowal.

#Pakistan is successful in achieving 5.3% #GDP growth rate. Minister Ahsan Iqbal pic.twitter.com/NwA1OGWmR9

— Minister of Interior (@MofInteriorPK) November 4, 2017