KUWAIT CITY: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif on Monday reiterated his government's resolve to eradicate the menace of terrorism from Pakistan.
"We have broken the back of terrorists after launching counter-terrorism operation in May 2014 and during this period, we entirely dismantled the network of terrorists, and destroyed their hideouts in border regions," he said while addressing the Pakistani community here.
The Prime Minister said the last one and a half years passed away very peacefully but now there happened some isolated incidents of terrorism, adding, they would also be crushed with full might.
"We lost a large number of our valiant soldiers and brave citizens in this war and suffered huge financial losses," the Prime Minister said and expressed resolve of the government to root out terrorism, in all its forms and manifestations.
Nawaz Sharif said in 2013, when his government came into power, the country was facing severe energy shortages, serious economic conditions and a precarious security environment, but today, the government has managed to stabilize the economy.
He said had the momentum of projects initiated by his government in the 1991 continued, Pakistan would have been an Asian Tiger today.
He said his government in 1991, started free flow of currency scheme for expatriate Pakistanis and introduced Green Channel.
He said the present government had put the country on the road to progress and in the last three and a half years, the government initiated much needed reforms that aimed at sustainable economic growth and development.
Pakistan's economic indicators are now improving steadily, the prime minister said and added that the country's exports were estimated to grow, particularly with our manufacturing sector witnessing remarkable progress due to uninterrupted power supply to industry.
He said Pakistan's stock markets were performing at an all-time high and were striving to be among the best performing in the world. From a three percent GDP growth before 2013, the country was projected to achieve 5.5pc GDP growth during the current year, he added.
The Prime Minister said power load-shedding had been curtailed to a great extent when compared with 16 hours load- shedding in the past, adding that the present government had started a number of hydel, LNG, solar, coal and wind power projects to produce more electricity.
He said 10,000 MW of electricity would be added to the system by 2018, adding, besides this the government under its Vision 2025, planned to generate 30,000 MW more electricity.
The Prime Minister said during the last 60 years only 16,000 MW of electricity was generated while the present government during the last three years added 10,000 MW to national grid.
"My mission besides ending load-shedding is to provide cheaper electricity to the people so that the cultivators, industrialists and domestic consumers can get its benefits," he added.
The Prime Minister said work on Diamer Bhasha Dam had been started which would generate 4,500 MW of electricity, adding that Rs 110 billion had been spent on purchase of land for that project.
He said both Dasu and Diamer Bhasha Dam would generate a total of 9,000 MW of electricity.
The Prime Minister said $ 50 billion projects had been initiated under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor Project and termed it a game changer not only for Pakistan but for the entire region.
He said a network of motorways and highways had been started in the entire country which would link Gwadar with Khunjrab via Quetta, Sindh, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Sharif said not even an inch of motorway was added during the previous governments.
He said Lahore-Multan Motorway would be completed by 2018 while work was in full swing on Multan-Sukkur Motorway, Karachi-Hyderabad Motorway was under construction while work on Hyderabad-Sukkur Motorway would be started in next few months.
He said the people would see a six-lane motorway from Peshawar to Karachi, adding, an Expressway would be constructed from Mirpur-Muzaffarabad, which would be extended to Mansehra and Khujarab while a six-lane motorway would be constructed from Hassanabdal to Havelian and Mansehra.
The Prime Minister said heads of ECO states in its summit meeting in Islamabad expressed their willingness over connectivity with Pakistan.
The Prime Minister said the Pakistani people were shocked on Iraq's occupation of Kuwait. The liberation of Kuwait was celebrated in the Pakistani streets in 1991.
The people of Pakistan and its institutions have also wholeheartedly contributed to the rehabilitation process of Kuwait subsequently, he added.
The hard work, dedication and contribution of the Pakistani community in the development and prosperity of Kuwait were most laudable, and were acknowledged by the leadership and people of Kuwait, he added.
The Prime Minister assured the Pakistani community that he would apprise the Kuwaiti leadership of the visa difficulties faced by Pakistani nationals in Kuwait.
Earlier, Pakistan's Ambassador to Kuwait, Ghulam Dastagir Khan in his welcome address said visit of the Prime Minister would further cement the cordial relations between Pakistan and Kuwait.
He said Pakistan community in Kuwait was sending $ 800 million foreign remittances to Pakistan and contributed generously to welfare of needy people in Pakistan.
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