ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that it is the effort of the government to administer Covid-19 vaccine to the whole population during the current year.
Interacting with the general public on telephone on Monday, the Prime Minister said that the vaccine has arrived in Pakistan. He said, “Our policy is to administer the vaccine to the frontline health workers in the first phase. In the next phase, the vaccine will be given to those above sixty years of age or faced with some serious diseases.” He assured the vaccine will be administered as per the laid down criterion without any discrimination.
The Prime Minister said the State of Medina was based on modern concepts such as rule of law, meritocracy and protection of human rights. He said the last sermon delivered by Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) is the charter of humanity. He expressed the commitment to build Pakistan on the principles of State of Medina as there is no other way.
He said that Pakistan is on the course of becoming a great nation by pursuing that path. He said the subject of Seerat un Nabi (SAW) will now be taught in the classes of seven, eight and nine.
When asked about Islamophobia, the Prime Minister stressed all the Muslim countries will have to jointly raise their voice to address the issue. He said he has also written letters to the heads of Muslim countries in the wake of France incident. He said under the garb of freedom of expression, the western countries are hurting the sentiments of Muslims.
To a question, the Prime Minister said developing backward areas of the country including Balochistan and tribal districts is the foremost priority of the government. He said, “We have given a historic package for the development of South Balochistan and it envisages a whole range of different projects including those related to connectivity.” He further said, “We have also decided to provide 3G and 4G facility in these areas to bring improvement in the living standards of the people there.”
Responding to a question about Gilgit Baltistan, the Prime Minister said the government will make all-out efforts to turn this region into a tourism hub. He said several projects have been envisaged for this purpose which will bring prosperity in the lives of the people.
He said a grid station and small hydro power projects will be established in Gilgit Baltistan to address its electricity issues. He said road infrastructure projects will also be executed to open the region for tourism.
Imran Khan said the government has initiated the Naya Pakistan Housing programme to provide low-cost housing units to the low income groups. The PM said that no other country in the world provides housing facilities to the masses. Citing the example of the United Kingdom, he said that 80 percent of the masses take housing loans from banks in order to construct houses. As against that, the PM claimed, only 0.2 percent of Pakistanis seek housing loans from banks. "The government will provide a subsidy of Rs300,000 per yard for each house under the housing scheme," the PM said. TLTP