Foreign aid needs to be given up to become independent: CM

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Shahbaz Sharif has said that in order to live as an independent and sovereign nation, reliance on foreign aid will have to be given up.

He said that it was high time to break the begging bowl and achieve self-reliance in the interest of complete independence. He said that the Punjab cabinet had decided to give a practical shape to the resolve and it had recommended that the matter be taken to the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) Chairperson, Nawaz Sharif, so that the party could give its final approval on the decision.

He said this while addressing a press conference after a meeting of provincial cabinet at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat on Monday.

The CM said that Punjab was in complete favour of the decision. “Although refusing foreign aid was not easy but it was the heart’s desire of every Pakistani from Khyber to Karachi,” he said.

He said that he was confident that the decision taken by the biggest province of Pakistan would prove to be the starting point of a national movement for economic independence, national sovereignty and security of the country. But, he said, the decision to give up foreign aid does not mean that relations with other countries are to be impaired. “The decision is aimed at promotion of trade instead of aid and at shunning the habit of reliance on others so as to rectify the mistakes of the past,” he said.

He said that Pakistan was fighting for its existence, therefore, the whole nation, especially the elite, would have to make sacrifices.

“The problems and hardships in the wake of this decision would prove to be transitory,” the CM said, adding that if the nation wanted to live with honour and dignity it would have to revise its priorities.

He said that it was due to the foreign aid that Pakistan was being subjected to drone attacks that had resulted in the death of thousands of innocent citizens instead of the real terrorists, hence aggravating the issue of terrorism.

He said that Punjab was the only province that had taken practical measures at the highest level for the promotion of austerity and reduced non-productive expenditure by Rs 6 billion. He said that the members of the delegations that accompany him on visits abroad pay the expenses from their own pockets.

The CM said that in this matter, the Centre and the provinces were not apart and the decision of Punjab cabinet was the voice of the whole nation. The CM pointed out that the agreements signed with China and other countries were also based on trade and not aid.

Earlier, the cabinet had given approval to three amendment bills of the Board of Revenue with regards to the devolution of powers in the wake of the 18th Amendment and the amendments in Provincial Assembly Punjab Privilege Act 1972.