Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has declared that the country desperately needs a “grand dialogue” to ward off the multiple crises, reported 24NewsHd TV channel.
Addressing a ceremony after inaugurating Indus Hospital in Lahore on Sunday, Shehbaz Sharif insisted "We will have to hold a grand dialogue with all stakeholders in the country."
The prime minister performed inauguration of the first phase of the 600-bed Indus Hospital.
In his speech, Shehbaz Sharif said: “We have to go beyond our egos for the development of Pakistan and welfare of its people. How long a country can survive on debts? Have we learned no lessons for the last 72 years, and should we continue to do politics like this?”
He said that a consensus should be developed over the national economy in such a manner that it should not be disturbed with change of governments.
He said that we should transcend our personal interests and kill our egos. We have to think beyond our personal likes and dislikes, Shehbaz said adding that in this way we could put our country on the path towards development.
He opined that there were certain sectors of the economy like IT and industrialization through which the country could move ahead.
He regretted that Pakistan should have been in the forefront of the Islamic world in terms of progress and development.
Comparing Pakistan’s export volume with neighbouring Bangladesh, he said its annual exports now touched the $40 billion mark while Pakistan had an export value of $27-28 billion annually.
PM Shehbaz said that he took the decision to raise the POL prices with a very heavy heart. However, he expressed his hope that the country’s economy would go up like a rocket in the next few years.
He also termed the previous government’s decision of decreasing petroleum prices in the month of March as a ploy as they had not extended any kind of relief to the masses during their rule.
The prime minister further assured that his government would try its best to provide relief to the poor and said that the government was looking to ease out impacts of price hike by extending financial relief to over 7 crore population.
He stressed that they had to stand on their feet with sheer qualities of hard work, sacrifices, unity and proper planning.
On this occasion, the premier announced to cut down the Metro Bus fare to half in order to mitigate the economic burden on the commuting people.
He said that he ordered the power authorities to reduce the duration of loadshedding to just two hours.
He also hinted to announce further austerity measures shortly in the face of economic challenges.
The prime minister said that he was ready to be held accountable for his two and a half months rule but what about the previous rulers who had governed the country in the last three and a half years.
On this occasion, APTMA leader Gohar Ijaz offered to present an open cheque to the prime minister for running the affairs of the hospital He said that to run a hospital was a huge challenge. He vowed to provide Rs10 billion to Indus Hospital in five years.