Speaking to the Pakistani media after reaching London from The Hague, where he met several world leaders, Nawaz said Pakistan’s relations with the world powers had improved tremendously because the world now knows that Pakistan is firmly entrenched on the course to democracy.
“The world can see that democracy has been strengthened in Pakistan. Pakistan’s economic indicators are getting better day by day and the state of the overall economy has improved since we came to power. Pakistanis have made a lot of sacrifices for strengthening democracy and for the restoration of judiciary and the rule of law. These sacrifices are acknowledged,” he said.
The PM said his government was trying its best to resolve the problems Pakistan was facing. “The dollar has weakened in comparison to the Pak Rupees, foreign investment is coming to Pakistan, loadshedding is gradually decreasing and in the coming days, this issue will be overcome completely,” he said.
He said in the next 7-8 years, around 21,000MW electricity will be produced in comparison to today’s production of about 17,000MW a day. “We have both short and long term strategies in place. We are focusing on making Pakistan a progressive country in the long term. Our strategy is already working as Pakistan’s stock market is showing great strength. Overall, our manufacturing power has increased and clearly our growth has gone up. These are all good indicators.”
Speaking about the operation against the criminal elements in Karachi, Nawaz said his government had decided to start the operation soon after coming to power. “You can see the results today. It will take time but things will get better and we will continue the operation,” he said.
When asked if the US administration had listened to Pakistan’s pleas of stopping the drone attacks, Nawaz said Pakistan had always maintained that drones were against its independence and territorial integrity. “Our opposition to drones is known to the whole world and we have always said that using drones was a wrong policy and counter-productive. There have been no strikes in the last 90 days or so and there should be no strikes again,” he said.
Nawaz said it was the first time that direct talks were being held with the Taliban to bring an end to militancy in the country and there were signs of progress. He said talks were postponed due to bad weather but would be held again. He said the government had started talks after the Taliban offered ceasefire first.
When asked about the fate of the two men who are in Pakistan’s custody and sought by the Scotland Yard in relation to an investigation into the murder of Dr Imran Farooq, the PM said he didn’t have much knowledge about the request sent to Pakistan by the Crown Prosecution Service. He said Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar was aware of the details of the case and only he could give an informed answer about this matter.
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