Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar on Sunday blamed the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led government for the resurgence of terrorism in the country, claiming its policy of “appeasement and rehabilitation” of extremist groups had facilitated this.
Dar, who also holds the portfolio of the Foreign Ministry, is currently visiting London, where he met a group of British lawmakers of Pakistani origin at a dinner hosted by High Commissioner Mohammad Faisal at the Pakistan House in London. According to a statement, the dinner’s participants included Deputy Speaker House of Commons Nusrat Ghani, Yasmin Qureshi, Lord Qurban Hussain, Baroness Nosheen Mubarak, Lord Zameer Chaudhry, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, Baroness Shaista Gohir, Mohammad Afzal Khan, Naseem Shah, Imran Hussain, Tahir Ali, Zubair Ahmed, Adnan Hussain, Mohammad Yasin and Ayoub Khan.
During the gathering, Dar recalled that terrorism was curtailed during the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz)’s 2013-17 tenure in government, lamenting that the PTI’s reversal of its policies had allowed extremist groups a chance to retrench in the country.
According to the statement, the minister briefed the British-Pakistani lawmakers on the incumbent government’s roadmap for economic revival. He noted the PMLN’s 2013-17 tenure had seen Pakistan emerge as the world’s 24th-largest economy, with projections of its joining the G20 bloc. “However, political instability, beginning in 2018, derailed Pakistan’s economic trajectory,” he lamented, stressing authorities were committed to putting Pakistan back on the path of economic growth and development.
“The difficult and politically unpopular measures taken by the recent government are now beginning to bear fruit,” he said, referring to declining inflation, narrowing current account deficit and a stable national currency. “There is across-the-board institutional support for economic reform and the Special Investment Facilitation Council [SIFC], set up by the government last year, is drawing significant foreign investors’ interest in Pakistan’s energy, mining, I.T. and agriculture sectors,” he said.
Urging the gathered MPs to advance suggestions on how the government could boost foreign direct investment from Britain and increase bilateral trade, he said Pakistan’s new visa-free policy aimed to encourage expatriates to visit Pakistan to help young British-Pakistanis stay connected to their roots.
Referring to the PTI, Dar maintained there could be no question of engaging with anyone who “attacked state institutions and used international forums to undermine the national interest.” Similarly, he vowed the government would not allow any internal or external elements to derail Pakistan’s journey to development and prosperity.
The foreign minister also thanked the parliamentarians for raising their voices against the human rights atrocities underway in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir and Gaza.