Islamabad, Nov 28 (PTI) Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif highlighting the importance of a strong economy announced on Thursday to soon unveil a “home-grown” economic development plan.
Addressing the 26th Security Workshop of the National Defence University in Islamabad, the 73-year-old said that national security and economic security were interlinked.
“The economic security will automatically strengthen national security and vice versa,” he said, adding that if a country is economically strong, its exports grow, its industrial base expands, productive jobs base grows and bureaucracy becomes efficient.
The prime minister further said he will soon announce a "home-grown plan” to transform Pakistan's economic landscape. However, he didn’t share the contours of the plan.
He expressed confidence that Pakistan is moving in the right direction. He said the Stock Exchange crossed the hundred thousand points, which is a big mark in Pakistan's history.
The prime minister said that people from all walks of life rendered sacrifices to defeat terrorism as the nation suffered a loss of 89,000 lives and economic damages worth USD 130 billion in the war against terrorism.
The prime minister said the monster of terrorism came
back and was showing its ugly face again in parts of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader said anti-Pakistan elements are behind this nefarious scheme through active support of the country’s enemies.
He also condemned the protest march in the capital by jailed former premier Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, terming it "Lashkar Kashi" when thousands of people were marching with guns in their hands and various other kinds of ammunition to create unrest and chaos.
He alleged the protesters wanted to destroy this hard-earned stability in terms of bringing down the inflation rate, increasing exports and remittances and skyrocketing stock exchange.
Replying to another question, the prime minister said that the government decided to launch an operation against the foreign-funded secessionist movements in Balochistan.