Be patient till inflation is controlled, pleads PM

ISLAMABAD: The Prime Minister, Imran Khan, reassured the nation on Sunday that the ‘promised change’ was coming but for the real change they will have to have a little more patience. He assured the callers that the country’s problems would resolve gradually.

The prime minister had direct interaction with the public over the phone for hours on Sunday. The premier had to take calls for one and a half hours but it stretched to two and a half hours.

Imran said a war was being fought in Pakistan for the rule of law and currently the country’s biggest problem was the the encroachment (Qabza) mafia. Imran Khan said he daily gets out of his residence every morning to wage Jihad against the rampant evils in the country.

Talking about corruption, Imran said he could not take on the evil on his own and the judiciary and the nation also has to fight it alongside him. He said “Imran Khan alone cannot fight corruption. The judiciary also has to support it and the NAB has to make proper cases,” he added. He pointed out that they asked the courts for Nawaz Sharif’s surety bond, but the judiciary sent him out without it. Without the support from the judiciary, he said, they could not fight corruption. He said the corrupt mafia pocketed 600 billion rupees through betting (‘Satta’) on the sugar price.

The prime minister said that a small minority of corrupt elements had united to escape the course of law. He said the corrupt opposition leaders had ganged up against him and wanted him to be thrown out. The prime minister said previously, the two parties who were at each other’s throats, were now demanding he step down and were on one page. “This is the change,” he said, adding that now, a government was in place which did not tolerate corruption and was not willing to let the menace go unchecked. PM Imran Khan said in Pakistan, his party had brought about a “democratic change” unlike the revolutions in France and Iran. He said “things took time to change in a democracy while a snap change like that in Iran and France led to the beheading of so many people.”

At one point, he said the encroachment mafia was hand in glove with the past rulers, adding that the big corrupt mafia in Lahore had the support of a political party and the female leader of a political party got her pictures taken with the encroachment mafia.

About corruption, the prime minister said, the society has to change its mindset. He said a minister committed suicide in Singapore when he was found guilty of corruption, but in Pakistan corrupt people were invited to ceremonies and flowers are showered on as if they have conquered Kashmir. The rule of law, justice and fairness is the real issue and a war is going on against the evil of corruption in Pakistan. Describing corruption as a cancer, he said it had spread to every poor country in the world. “When the rulers commit corruption, they cannot keep the money in the country and send it out, causing double damage to the country.” He again said according to a UN report, one trillion dollars were stolen from poor countries every year that went to the rich countries. “We are pushing hard to get our money back from the rich countries, but they are obstructing it because they are benefiting from the money,” he said.

“The promised change is coming, but for real change, the people will have to have a little patience. The problems would be solved gradually,” he said. He said laying hands on the powerful was the success of the present government.

A housewife, whose spouse does a private job, complained about “the day to day price hike of commodities,” whereas she noted the dollar value had come down and the rupee had stabilized. “It is becoming impossible for us to pay school fees and also cope with the rising inflation. Ramazan is also approaching. For God’s sake, fulfill your promise and control inflation. If not, then allow us to get panicky and fret about it, while you have been saying from day one not to worry.” “(Ghabrana Nahi Hey) Let us worry now,” she said.

In response, the prime minister assured her that they were concentrating hard to bring it under control. When asked about inflation by another woman caller, Imran said, “there are many types of inflation: one is that an item is available at one price in a shop, but the same is available at a different price in another shop. We can control this kind of inflation through administrative steps.”

The second inflation, he noted, was when the farmer sells his produce to the market at a price, but when the same item reaches the people, it is sold at a huge difference.

“The farmer does not get the full value of his labour for the produce, while the middle man pockets a lot more. We are breaking this trend and will deliver vegetables and fruits directly from the market to the people, which will fetch a good price to the farmer and also reduce the prices for the people.”

Imran said the third reason for inflation was that before the PTI government came to power, the dollar was valued at Rs124 and after 2018 it rose to Rs160, but thank God the economy was now stabilizing and the rupee was strengthening. “Its immediate effect is that the price of diesel and petrol is falling, but when the dollar went from Rs107 to Rs150, it affected the electricity tariff.”

He noted that half of the electricity in Pakistan was generated from imported oil. Imran said all electricity contracts were signed in dollars and when the value of the dollar rose, it also affected the price of electricity. He said similarly when the price of diesel went up, it also increased the cost of transport.

“We also import food items, 70pc edible oil and 70pc pulses despite being an agricultural country. Owing to population growth and rainfalls at a wrong time, we imported four million tons of wheat in one year. One thing that has come to light is that the prices are being raised deliberately. There is a mafia of a few who earn billions of rupees. We have an FIA report on flour and sugar scams. The prices of flour and sugar were deliberately increased. We have launched an operation against the big mafias for the first time in Pakistan. You don’t have to worry because we are working on it all the time”.

On agriculture production, Imran said they were coming up with a revolutionary policy under which the entire sector of agriculture would be changed. “We will be able to know in advance what we are lacking so that there is no shortage of any kind and the prices do not rise due to shortage.”

To a question about gas shortage, Imran said if the gas network was expanded, it would be difficult to provide it at the current price, as the government purchases expensive gas and supplies to the people by subsidizing its price. He said the expansion of gas network would also increase gas loans.

He continued that gas reserves in Pakistan were dwindling but more wells were being dug. “The gas imported from abroad is expensive, but we are buying it at a lower price,” he said.On trade with India, the prime minister said relations with India could not normalise until the August 5 move in the Indian Illegally Occupied Kashmir was withdrawn.

He said a proposal for relations with India was under discussion and the federal cabinet had decided that no such step would be taken that would send a wrong message to Kashmiris.Asked about the State Bank of Pakistan, the prime minister said, “We are still negotiating with the IMF. One of the issues has come under undue media glare and being discussed cursorily. There will be a detailed, threadbare discussions on the issue in the parliament. The IMF gives loans at the lowest interest rates and when it offers loans, then other institutions also give loans”.

Asked why those involved in heinous crimes against children were not being hanged publicly and what steps his government had taken to check this menace, Prime Minister Imran said though the government had promulgated a very stringent laws against such crimes, but the law alone could not achieve results unless the entire society made up its mind to fight this cancer.

“Our religion has strictly forbidden vulgarity, obscenity and the philosophy behind observing ‘Pardah’ is to protect the society and keep the family system intact. Islam calls for observing ‘Pardah’ so that there was no temptation. The spreading vulgarity has its repercussions in the society,” the prime minister said. The premier recalled that he took up the issue of showing the Indian content or copying the Western content with the filmmakers, as that has a strong negative impact on our society, despite the fact there were no discos or night clubs in the country. He pointed out that mobile phone had caused the most damage, as now such material was available to children on the cell phones, which was never ever available before. Imran said it was because of this reason, he spoke to the president of Turkey and a Turkish drama was aired in Pakistan. “We will enact a strict legislation but the society as a whole will have to fight it, as this cancer is spreading very fast,” he warned.

Warning the nation against the third wave of coronavirus, the prime minister described it to be extremely dangerous in comparison to the previous two waves, urging the people to strictly follow the standard operating procedures (SOPs). He cautioned the nation ahead of the question-and-answer session that the government would be forced to impose major restrictions or strict lockdowns if people didn’t start adhering to the Covid-19 guidelines. “We have so far been protecting our people; we are not imposing a lockdown or closing our factories. We are only imposing minor restrictions so that this wave doesn’t spread rapidly. But if this spreads, it will have a very negative impact and we will be forced to take steps. The country could have plunged into a severe economic crisis if the government had imposed a lockdown for a second time. Allah blessed Pakistan especially and saved us from the looming danger,” he added.

He emphasized that no one could predict with certainty how far the third virus wave would go. “I request you to wear a mask wherever you go out; it costs nothing and is highly beneficial, and the world has recognised its advantages. The most affected segment due to lockdowns were the poor across the world. According to an estimate, 150 million people have fallen below the poverty line in the wake of closure of businesses and economies,” Imran emphasized.