Remarkable reduction in poverty: Prime Minister

from The Business Recorder

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has said that poverty in the country has remarkably reduced during the last four years and asserted that 13 million people have been lifted out of poverty, as Pakistan is set on a high growth trajectory of six to eight percent.

Addressing the inaugural session of three-day international conference marking the Centennial of All-India Muslim League, which began here on Monday, he said the country had undergone positive transformation since the military take-over in 1999.

The centenary celebrations are being attended by guests from USA, UK and Bangladesh and from various parts of the country.

"We deeply cherish and honour the memory of our founding fathers who waged a heroic struggle from the platform of the All-India Muslim League to secure a separate homeland for the Muslims of the Sub-continent," Aziz said.

He added: "We celebrate the centenary of the great political party, which won us our homeland, we should try to understand the idea of Pakistan - the two-nation theory - in its true spirit. We should retrace the steps and strides in that marathon struggle which translated the idea of Pakistan into the reality. Most importantly, we also need to search our souls and reaffirm our commitment to the ideals for which Pakistan was created".

All-India Muslim League was founded in Dhaka on December 30, 1906 and the Quaid-i-Azam was invited to attend and address the meeting of the Muslim League in 1910 and 1911. He was enrolled as member of the party in 1913. As a member of the Congress as well as of the Muslim League was trusted and confided by the both. The Quaid-i-Azam enjoyed a unique position to allay distrust and chart out a course of co-operation between them.

Aziz observed Islam accepts the reality of change and lays down the principle of Ijtehad as a mechanism of interpreting the basic Islamic principles in terms of the changing realities and requirements of life. "The task of reconstructing Muslim societies is indeed stupendous. Such a process has to reflect not only the idiom and thought currents of the modern age but also embody the drive and inner quality of Islam."

Sharing his government's vision with the audience, he said: "We envision Pakistan as a modern developed Islamic welfare state through sustainable democracy and a knowledge-based economy". "We open up globally to take advantage of the opportunities presented by economic integration, we are also striving to shore up our national security and domestic economy in order to safeguard our national interests and to promote the welfare of our citizens," he further said.

Seven years back, when President Musharraf assumed responsibility of the government, Pakistan was in doldrums, beset with festering problems of misgovernance, dysfunctional institutions and a sagging economy, he asserted.

"We have implemented an ambitious and all-encompassing reform agenda, covering all aspects of national life - political, administrative, social and economic. This has brought about a sea-change in the country and the process of national renewal is well underway," Aziz said.

He said his government is open to constructive criticism and honestly feels that promoting a culture of tolerance and mutual accommodation is indispensable for democracy. The government has also implemented broad-based administrative reforms by devolving authority from higher tiers of government to local levels, he added.

"In the economic sphere, we have successfully implemented a stabilisation programme and wide-ranging structural reforms, which have put the economy back on the track of sustainable growth and poverty alleviation."

The Prime Minister said Pakistan is now the fastest growing economies in the region and hoped it would sustain a high growth trajectory of 6 to 8 percent. The poverty reduction strategy has brought down the number of people below the poverty line from 34.5% in 2001 to 23.9% in 2005. In other words, 13 million people have been lifted out of poverty in just four years, he noted.

Mushahid Hussain Sayed in his keynote address said had there been no Quaid-i-Azam and no Muslim League there would have been no Pakistan. Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed, secretary general of PML (Q) also spoke on the occasion.