PTI unveils plan for first 100 days in office if elected to power
Islamabad, May 20: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on Sunday presented its agenda to be completed within the first 100 days of government — if the party is elected to power.
PTI leaders Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Asad Umar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak and former secretary-general Jahangir Tareen — who was disqualified as a lawmaker by the Supreme Court last year — presented parts of the agenda at an event in Islamabad. The agenda includes transformation in governance, revitalisation of economic growth and ensuring the country’s national security.
“A civilised society is not known by how many big houses are constructed in Defence Housing Authorities, or now in Bahria [Town], but how people in the slums live,” PTI chief Imran Khan, who spoke towards the end of the ceremony, said before coming to the agenda.
“These 100 days reflect the path for which the country was made,” he said.
Khan, making multiple religious references in his address, said that he envisions a Pakistan in which a leader is accountable even for the death of an animal.
All policies under this 100 days agenda will look into how to make education, employment and other basic rights accessible to the common man, said Khan.
Khan said that the temperatures in Pakistan were rising because of climate change which is a reality and that its effects can only be mitigated by planting more trees. He regretted that the party’s Billion Tree Tsunami project in KP was criticised by the PML-N despite being acknowledged by international organisations.
He also criticised the incumbent government for being in a hurry to inaugurate projects using examples of the Orange Line Metro Train in Lahore and the new Islamabad International Airport. “Have you ever seen Mahatir Mohammad or Nelson Mandela cut ribbons?” he asked, adding that nation-building, not inauguration of some projects, is the real achievement.
Qureshi spoke mostly about regional disparities and presented the plan for the merger of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a political reconciliatory process for Balochistan, as well as for the creation of South Punjab province on administrative grounds.
He said that this would involve giving greater authority to the provincial government in Balochistan and making the development projects in the province more inclusive of the local population.
He also said a federal plan would be introduced to improve civic amenities and the security situation in Karachi should the PTI come to power.
A special plan would be created to bring the poorest of the countries districts at par with others, he announced.
Speaking after him, Asad Umar presented the economic highlights of the proposed agenda, which includes provision of jobs to youth and promotion of tourism.
He said that a policy to create 10 million jobs within five years would be formulated which would focus on provision of skills to youth.
He said that the party would promote the manufacturing industry and pave the way for speedy growth of small and medium-sized businesses.
He announced that the goverment’s guest houses wold be turned into hotels and made available for the public, and that four new tourist spots would be discovered within the first 100 months.
Transforming Pakistan into a business friendly country, tax reforms and construction of 5 million houses is also among the main points of the proposed 10-point economic policy.
A “Council of Business Leaders” would be created to improve Pakistan’s global business standing. He also said that “Pakistan Wealth Fund” would be created to fund institutions such as the Pakistan International Airlines, Pakistan Steel Mills and power distribution companies to bring revolutionary changes in them.
Umar also promised the party would end power crisis, turn the ongoing China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) into a revolutionary project and improve the citizens and industrialists’ access to capital.
KP Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak recalled the party’s initiatives and reforms brought in its five-year stint in power in the province.
He promised that important changes to to education and health system in the country would be ensured along with an expansion in the social safety net. The Sehat Insaf Card, currently only restricted to KP, would be expanded to the entire country and a total of 8 million families would be provided with income support, up from 5.4m families today under Benazir Income Support Programme.
He said that the party would protect the rights of women and ensure their progress in society. Khattak also said that his party would ensure provision of clean drinking water and begin a tree-plantation campaign.
Tareen spoke about the party’s agenda for improvements in agriculture. He said that the PTI would take emergency measures to make agriculture profitable for farmers. He promised financial help and better access to loans for farmers while also promising to make the country self-sufficient in milk-related products.
he noted that the country was far behind others in agricultural research and vowed to improve research in the sector to turn around the agro-economy.
Following Tareen, Shireen Mazari said that a national security organisation would be formed if the PTI comes to power. She promised improvements in economy through a reformed foreign policy and the creation of a detailed national security policy.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs would be strengthened by revamping its legal and institutional capabilities, Mazari announced.
She said that the national security policy would focus on uncovering contact between active and inactive terrorists, ensure implementation of National Action Plan, curriculum reforms and bringing madressahs into the national mainstream.
The PTI’s plan comes as political parties are preparing for the elections with the announcement regarding the caretaker prime minister and the date of the General Elections 2018 expected soon.
The party’s information secretary Fawad Chaudhry had told Dawn on Saturday that Khan would announce a plan that had taken a special committee three months to draft. The committee, according to him, included Qureshi, Tareen, Umar and Akif Khan. He said the Policy Unit of the party’s Election Management Cell and the Central Media Department had played a major role in preparing the plan.
While addressing a public meeting in Lahore last month, Khan had announced an 11-point programme to turn the country into a “new Pakistan”.
The country’s two largest parties — the PPP and PML-N — had mocked the programme and termed the PTI’s agenda mere rhetoric.
