THATTA: Acknowledging that massive corruption in the past has caused depletion of the country’s resources, President Mamnoon Hussain on Saturday appreciated the government’s measures to bring the national economy back on track and expressed the hope that its policies coupled with the military operation against terrorists and their facilitators would help restore peace and harmony and bring about prosperity across the country.

“Terrorism, extremism and other sorts of crime are linked with poverty and illiteracy,” he observed, and stressed the need for promoting education and poverty alleviation initiatives to help curb the menaces. Operation Zarb-i-Azb as well as the Karachi operation will continue till the complete elimination of terrorism and extremism to establish peace and tranquillity in the country, he said.

The president was speaking at a ceremony held in Makli Stadium on Saturday for the inauguration of the Waseela-i-Taleem Programme initiated under the Be­­nazir Income Support Programme (BISP).

‘Loadshedding will end by 2018’

He commended the relentless efforts by BISP chairperson Marvi Memon, secretary Saleem Ranjha and their team for running the programme successfully and hoped that its scope would be extended to every nook and corner of the country.

The president, who is the patron-in-chief of the BISP, expressed his confidence that the programme would prove to be a milestone in the country’s progress and prosperity as it ensured that the benefits of the initiative trickled down to the poor and downtrodden.

Appreciating the launch of Waseela-i-Taleem programme, President Hussain noted with concern that over 6.7 million children within the age group of 5-10 were out of schools in the country. Implementation of this programme by sincere and professionally skilled people and with the joint efforts by civil society and other quarters concern could address the issue, he said, and wished that the beneficiaries of the programme were able to not only improve their standard of living but also help others. He pledged his all cooperation to the BISP in this regard.”

“All flaws in the BISP detected in the past have now been removed to make it a potential initiative for the benefit of the deserving people,” he said.

“Vested interests had usurped the country’s resources through massive corruption in the past but the national economy is now being put on the track gradually,” he observed, and said the country was on the path of prosperity.The president also made mention of a number of power generation projects and said they include enormous, medium and small ones powered by nuclear, coal, wind and solar energy. “The country will get rid of loadshedding by the year 2018,” he said.

He thanked British High Commissioner Philip Barton for the assistance and cooperation extended to Pakistan by his government. “I would like to convey the gratitude of the people of Pakistan for the assistance of your government for this humanitarian service,” he said.

Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Barton who spoke English, Urdu and Sindhi during his speech, said: “Development in Pakistan is very important for my country. We are investing Rs47 billion in this programme till the year 2020. We want the poorest and disadvantaged families to avail the opportunities in education and make a better future for themselves.”

BISP chairperson Marvi Memon informed the audience that the PML-N government, British government and other foreign donors had help the BISP increase its financial base from previously Rs40 billion to Rs102 billion.

She said the programme had already been extended to 72 districts in the country and would hopefully cover all the remaining ones soon.

Aurat Foundation chairperson Dr Masooma Hussain and Federal Secretary Saleem Ranjha also spoke.

Published in Dawn, November 29th, 2015