Islamabad (Staff Report/Agencies): Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that a leader who does not take a U-turn is not a real leader.
The PM said this during an interaction with the senior journalists in Islamabad on Friday. Imran khan said one who does not take decisions keeping the ground realities in mind is not a real leader.
“If Adolf Hitler and Napoleon Bonaparte had taken U-turns, they would not have suffered huge defeats and would not have caused such heavy losses”, the PM asserted.
The prime minister, citing an example from his cricket days when he was captain of Pakistan's national cricket team, said, "We used to make a strategy and then step out into the field but if the opponent team formed a strategy against ours then we would have to change it."
Referring to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, PM Imran said Nawaz did not take a U-turn in court but he instead lied.
Speaking about his recent visit to China, the prime minister said his visit to China was highly successful.
He said that Pakistan has secured a sizeable package from China and that no previous government signed with the neighbouring country.
The PM said his government inherited a huge deficit of current and fiscal account and is endeavoring to overcome the financial crisis.
“The government decided to approach the friendly countries to deal with this situation and by the grace of Almighty Allah, it overcame this financial crunch and balance of payments issue”, he added.
Imran Khan said government is focusing on four areas including enhancing exports, promoting investment, boosting remittances and curbing the money laundering.
He said that currently remittances worth 15 to 20 billion dollars are being received through legal channels whereas almost same amount is being channelized through illegal means including Hawala and Hundi.
The PM said that the expatriate Pakistanis are being facilitated to remit money through banking channels to enhance national revenues.
Imran said Pakistan offers vast investment opportunities in diverse sectors and it will be government's priority to seek transfer of technology in these areas.
The PM said at present money is being laundered abroad to the tune of 10 billion dollars and government is entering into agreements with the foreign countries to check this menace.
He said the recent development of tracing the money stashed abroad to the tune of 700 billion rupees shows as to why the former rulers were seeking work permits.
Imran Khan said the government has signed agreements with Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States to have information about the ill-gotten money stashed in these countries by Pakistanis.
Pointing out the state of national economy and the losses being incurred by the major national institutions, he said that the circular debt in the power sector that was 400 billion rupees in 2013, surged to 1200 billion rupees in 2018.
He said that in gas sector, the current deficit is 150 billion rupees, in PIA 400 billion rupees, in Pakistan Steel Mills 350 to 400 billion rupees, in Utility Stores 14 billion rupees, while in Postal Services 9 billion rupees. The Prime Minister regretted that unfortunately no one ever made any effort to promote democracy in the country rather kleptocracy was promoted, wherein the rulers abused their powers for their own vested interests.