ISLAMABAD : (Web Desk) – In his address to the nation, Prime Minister Imran Khan announced huge relief for the masses in prices of petrol and electricity.
The Prime Minister said petrol price is being reduced by Rs10 per liter while electricity price will be decreased by Rs5 per unit.
He also announced that these prices will not be revised until the next federal budget and the impact of global petrol hike will not be passed to the consumer for next four months.
The Prime Minister also announced to award internship to all jobless graduates worth 30,000 rupees per month. He said 26,000 scholarships, costing 38 billion rupees will be given to students.
The Prime Minister said all IT companies and freelancers will be entitled to zero tax regime. He also announced to withdraw capital gain tax on IT startups.
Talking about government’s Sehat Sahulat programme, Imran Khan said entire families of Punjab will get health cards by the end of the next month. He said the limit of Ehsas Cash Programme has been increased from 12,000 rupees to 14,000 rupees.
The Prime Minister said interest free loans will be provided under Kamyab Pakistan Programme. He said farmers will also be entitled to get loan under this programme. He said an amount of 407 billion rupees has been allocated for this purpose.
He said no question will asked for industrial investment. He said we aimed at revival of sick units through tax benefits and there will be a five-year tax holiday on joint ventures to attract overseas investment.
ON FOREIGN POLICY
Earlier, the Prime Minister started his speech by saying that his parents were born in an “enslaved India” which made him realise how lucky he was to be born in a free country as he was growing up.
He said he wanted a free and independent foreign policy ever since he stepped into the politics.
“A nation drafts a foreign policy that benefits the country,” he added.
Criticising the foreign policy of the previous government, Imran Khan said that Pakistan had participated in the American ‘war on terror’ in which 80,000 Pakistanis were martyred, more than 35 lakh Pakistan were displaced and losses worth billions of dollars were inflicted.
“The most embarrassing part was that, for the first time in history, a country was fighting in support of a country that was bombing it.”
He said that there were only 10 drone attacks during the government of former military ruler Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf but more than 400 drone attacks were conducted during the rule of democratic leaders such as Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari.
About his trip to Russia, the Prime Minister said it was necessary to visit Moscow as Pakistan needed to import wheat as well as for cooperation in the energy sector.
ON PECA ORDINANCE
Regarding amendments in the Pakistan Electronic Crimes Act, the Prime Minister said this law was introduced in 2016 and his government is only amending the law to eliminate fake news, indecent content, especially the child pornography on social media.
He said around 94,000 cases are pending before the Federal Investigation Agency regarding harassment of women and indecency. He said only 38 of them have so far been decided, which shows the lacuna in law to deal with such acts. He said mafias are busy in blackmailing in the name of freedom of expression.
Imran Khan said credible journalists are a great asset for the country and they should be happy that PECA law will help end fake news.
