Economic stability top priority: PM

NEW YORK: Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar has said that bringing economic stability in the country is the foremost priority of the government and in this regard, a comprehensive economic revival plan is in force.

He said assisting the process of elections was one of the prime duties of the government.

“We will be assisting and supporting the process and while doing so really try to focus on the economic revival plan. That is the biggest challenge.”

In an interview with the US-based weekly magazine Newsweek here on Friday, the prime minister pointed out that the caretaker government was deeply concerned about the situation of stability.

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“At the moment, it’s pretty much under control. It’s something which we fully and lawfully monitor, and we are in charge to pull all the strings when it comes to stability.”

With respect to Pakistan’s relations with Afghanistan, he said it would take some time to get relations with the neighboring Afghanistan’s de facto government better.

“It’ll take a bit of time, but we are quite confident that we will be able to manage that.”

“We do have a larger perspective and outlook on the whole of the region. But these day-to-day events do mire and complicate our relationship at times. But we’re trying to manage it in a manner which is mutually beneficial to both sides,” he added.

Responding to a question regarding the US attention in South Asian region, PM Kakar said as a Pakistani and someone coming from that region, he would be very much baffled if that region was being ignored or if it deserved less attention by the United States, because this was where actually lot of things were happening.

“A population of around 3 to 4 billion resides in that region. How do you ignore 4 billion people? How do you pay less attention to 4 billion people out of 8? Almost half of humanity resides there.”

He said there were potential conflicts in those areas.

“It would be very stingy on my part not to mention Kashmir, because it is a flashpoint between two nuclear states. God forbid, if there is any sort of military confrontation between the two nuclear powers, how would that translate to the region? How would that translate outside the region? What sort of implications would it have for the European continent? What implications will it have across the planet into North America and the rest?”

The prime minister expressed his concerns over the entire so-called “Indo-Pacific” policy of the Western Hemisphere via the encirclement of a regional power around the South China. “We do view it and we are closely monitoring all the developments.”

“The so-called Indo Pacific strategy is done for the objectives which suit Western powers…so, there is an element of concern and there is a legitimate sense of caution on the Pakistani side, and we are closely monitoring that…and we are trying to do our own preparedness to respond to such a challenge,” he added.