PTI’s ‘Road to Naya Pakistan’ manifesto vows welfare state

–Imran Khan says his party will create state in line with principles that made foundation of Medina

–Promises 50,00,000 low-cost houses for the poor, generate jobs, facilitate agriculture sector, reform tax regime 

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Monday vowed to turn Pakistan into a welfare state if voted into power, as he unveiled his party’s manifesto for the General Election 2018.

Titled “Road to Naya Pakistan”, the manifesto is composed of seven chapters and explains in detail the PTI’s agenda for the next government.

Addressing a ceremony in the federal capital, Imran Khan said that before revealing the manifesto he wanted to stress that whoever forms the government after July 25, will have to face biggest economic challenge ever.

“The reason is obviously the debts, devaluation of rupee and failed policies, making poor the poorer,” he said.

Stressing on PTI’s ‘mission’ to make Pakistan an Islamic welfare state, Imran said that his party will create a state in line with the principles that made the foundation of Medina — humanity and justice.

“The manifesto we present is no ‘easy-solution’. There are no easy solutions to Pakistan’s problems. We have to make major changes,” the PTI chief said.

The PTI chief further observed that the developed societies have a governance system that is based on justice and accountability. “That is what we are trying to replicate with this manifesto today,” he said.  “The capability of bureaucracy to deliver effectively has diminished over time. Our institutions have been ruined over time,” he added.

“The first challenge is unemployment and how to create jobs,” Imran said. “The manifesto also discusses how we will use agriculture to generate revenue. We will ensure farmers’ rights are not subjugated.”

He further said that if given a chance to form the government, PTI will offer business incentives to create employment that would lead to prosperity. “Our challenge is to create 10 million jobs and five million homes in our five-year term,” Imran said.

“Letting you know of main points of our manifesto. First is low-cost housing schemes. We will build 50,00,000 houses for the poor. This is going to be like our Billion Tree Tsunami,” the PTI chief said, adding that his party had held meetings with builders and was well aware of how the project will help the party in creating jobs.

Furthermore, Imran said that it is yet to be determined whether the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a gamechanger or not.

“Small and medium enterprises (SME) are like the backbone of the country. We will facilitate young entrepreneurs by reducing the cost of doing business, which is currently the reason of red-tapism by Pakistani government sector,” noted Imran.

Speaking about the opportunities in tourism, the PTI chief said it was one of the biggest untapped industry in Pakistan. “Tourism is also one effective way to increase our foreign revenue and create jobs in remote areas,” he said.

“The next biggest challenge is the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) reforms. We need to make the FBR an institution to collect money to run the country,” he said, adding that the PTI also plans to empower FBR “for if we are to gather money in Pakistan, we need to fix FBR”.

The PTI chief also said that his party plans to replicate hydel projects installed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. “We will replicate those to create clean energy,” he said.

Discussing the party’s strategy for the agriculture sector, Imran said the PTI will create a mechanism to facilitate the poor farmers. “We will replace ‘mandi’ (market) with special warehouses so that no farmers’ hard work goes in vain,” said Imran. “Reforming the agriculture and livestock system and making warehouses for storage are all part of the reforms. We will replace livestock with more effective and latest methods of farming.”

Imran also vowed to bring tax reforms that would bring a significant change in the taxpayer’s attitude toward paying the government and the country’s economy. “I believe this nation will give taxes once we assure them their tax will be spent on them. People at the moment think their money is spent on politicians’ lavish lifestyle,” said the PTI chief.

“Utilising the tax money on people, eliminating corruption are the crucial aspects and we’re going to reform the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), and FBR for that purpose,” he said.

“Most importantly we will curb corruption. Corruption ruins the economy; we will empower NAB, SECP, FIA to curb corruption. Once that is done, only then we can spend on human development,” Imran said.

“We will introduce a non-political model of policing like the one in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the rest of the provinces as well. And to ensure that Pakistanis get instant and quality justice, we will introduce comprehensive judicial reforms.”

Khan outlined the major issues of all the regions and vowed to resolve them. “We will bring prominent changes to the administrative structure in Karachi; ensure successful completion of FATA’s merger with KP and will allocate specific funds for it; promote politics of understanding in Balochistan; raise the movement of south Punjab province, and empower Gilgit Baltistan.”

Khan also talked about water preservation via the building of dam, which he said would make the agricultural industry profitable for the farmers.

The manifesto, he said, also has plans on introducing educational reforms in schools, religious seminaries and vocational centres.

Khan said that his party would safeguard national security and defeat the terrorists’ narrative, human resources, finances and weaponry to tackle the internal threats the country faces. However, he said that in order to curb the proliferation of arms and ammunition at international level, the PTI government would also invite India for strategic discussions.

He also delineated his party’s environmental agenda, saying that they would “plant 10 billion trees to tackle environmental changes.”

PPP was the first among the major political parties to share its manifesto, followed by PML-N.