QUETTA: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has said that the tax amnesty scheme will provide remarkable benefits to the country.

Speaking at a gathering after inaugurating the Rs15 billion Khuzdar-Shahdadkot road project and launching work on Kharan-Yak Mach road on Saturday, the prime minister said that false and baseless criticism was made against the scheme.

He said the government had sincerely introduced tax reforms to bring more people into the tax net and to boost the economy.

Abbasi says blame game on Afghan issue will serve no purpose

He said tax reforms would shift the burden from the poor to the rich. “Several rich elements who earlier were detractors will come into the tax net that would benefit our national economy,” he said.

Mr Abbasi once again alleged that rigging and money were behind the recent Senate polls and the Senate chairman’s election. The Senate elections had raised several questions, he added.

He feared that the country might face a crisis-like situation if the elements behind rigging of the Senate elections came to power. “What will happen to the country if the elements behind rigging come to power after the next general elections?” he asked.

The prime minister, however, was confidant that the masses would vote for true and sincere leadership and the PML-N had such leadership that was sincere to the country. There should be transparency in the country’s politics, he said.

He said the credit went to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif for execution of several mega projects in the country, including Balochistan, besides putting Pakistan on track of development. He said the former prime minister carried out record development in the country. “Nawaz Sharif is synonymous with development,” he said.

Mr Abbasi said the development process witnessed suspension and delay before 2013, especially in Balochis­tan, but the Pakistan Muslim League-N government, maintaining its traditions, once again put the country on track of development by launching and executing record mega development projects.

“After coming to power, the PML-N launched record development projects in Balochistan and resultantly, Balochistan will be the major beneficiary of the development, especially of the China-Pakistan Econo­mic Project (CPEC),” he said.

“People of Balochistan are going to enjoy progress and prosperity as several mega projects, including the CPEC, are under way in their province,” he said. Mr Abbasi said that Pakistan was keen to see a durable peace in Afghanistan.

“Exchange of allegations was not a solution to the issues,” he said, adding that the solution lay only in dialogue. “The stakeholders both from Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed that all issues between the two countries would be resolved through dialogue,” he said.

On his arrival in Quetta, the prime minister was received by Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo, provincial ministers and senior officials, while federal ministers Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo, retired Lt Gen Abdul Qadir Baloch and Hafiz Abdul Karim accompanied him.

Published in Dawn, April 8th, 2018