PTI unveils plan for first 100 days in office if elected to power
Dawn.com |
Fahad ChaudhryUpdated May 20, 2018
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PTI leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi speaking at a ceremony in Islamabad on Sunday. — DawnNewsTV
The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on Sunday presented its agenda to be completed within the first 100 days of government — if the party is elected to power.
PTI leaders Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Asad Umar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak and former secretary-general Jahangir Tareen — who was disqualified as a lawmaker by the Supreme Court last year — presented parts of the agenda at an event in Islamabad. The agenda includes transformation in governance, revitalisation of economic growth and ensuring the country's national security.
Qureshi spoke mostly about regional disparities and presented the plan for the merger of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a political reconciliatory process for Balochistan, as well as for the creation of South Punjab province on administrative grounds.
He also said a federal plan would be introduced to improve civic amenities and the security situation in Karachi should the PTI come to power.
Speaking after him, Asad Umar presented the economic highlights of the proposed agenda, which includes provision of jobs to youth and promotion of tourism.
He said that the party would promote the manufacturing industry and pave the way for speedy growth of small and medium-sized businesses.
Transforming Pakistan into a business friendly country, tax reforms and construction of 5 million houses is also among the main points of the proposed 10-point economic policy.
Umar also promised the party would end power crisis, turn the ongoing China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) into a revolutionary project and improve the citizens and industrialists' access to capital.
KP Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak recalled the party's initiatives and reforms brought in its five-year stint in power in the province.
He promised that important changes to to education and health system in the country would be ensured along with an expansion in the social safety net. He said that the party would protect the rights of women and ensure their progress in society. Khattak also said that his party would ensure provision of clean drinking water and begin a tree-plantation campaign.
Tareen spoke about the party's agenda for improvements in agriculture. He said that the PTI would take emergency measures to make agriculture profitable for farmers. He promised financial help and better access to loans for farmers while also promising to make the country self-sufficient in milk-related products.
PTI chief Imran Khan will shortly address the ceremony.
The party’s information secretary Fawad Chaudhry had told
Dawn on Saturday that Khan would announce a plan that had taken a
special committee three months to draft. The committee, according to him, included Qureshi, Tareen, Umar and Akif Khan. He said the Policy Unit of the party’s Election Management Cell and the Central Media Department had played a major role in preparing the plan.
While addressing a public meeting in Lahore last month, Khan had announced an
11-point programme to turn the country into a “new Pakistan”.
The country’s two largest parties — the PPP and PML-N — had
mocked the programme and termed the PTI’s agenda mere rhetoric.
More to follow