ISLAMABAD: Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Professor Ahsan Iqbal on Friday stressed the need for ending the tendencies of intolerance, hatred, and biasness in society so that an environment of unity, harmony and peaceful co-existence could be created, said a press release.

“Confrontation always encourages polarisation in the society which never allows a greater unity to take place, which is a must to become a stronger and prosperous nation,” he said while addressing the 2nd International Islamic Peace Conference at the International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI).

He said the country’s youth had all the skills and capabilities required in transforming Pakistan into a vibrant and developed nation, adding strong democratic norms were linked with the promotion of tolerance-culture and forging exemplary unity among all ranks.

The minister recalled that Pakistan rendered great sacrifices in the war on terror as its more than 70,000 people lost their lives and the country faced a significant blow of around $100-150 billion to its economy.

Iqbal said the country could not afford internal unrest as it needed to strengthen the national economy to tackle the confronted challenges.

He said during the last tenure of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government national economy was growing at a faster pace under the Vision-2025, which was evident from the report of an international rating agency which predicted Pakistan would be among the top world economies by 2030.

But today, he regretted that Pakistan came down in all global rankings due to poor economic policies of the previous government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government that remained in power for four years. “Nations get a significant place in the world only when they are economically strong,” he added.

He urged the youth to utilise their skills in the field of information technology to make Pakistan an information giant in the next 10 years.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023