PESHAWAR: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday said that Pakistan had accepted the loan programme of the International Monetary Fund “under compulsion” as it had no other option.

“We have not opted for the IMF programme gladly and instead, it was our compulsion to do so. We have to stand on our own feet to wean ourselves off loans and begging,” the prime minister told the PM Youth Laptop Scheme distribution ceremony at the Governor’s House here.

Mr Shehbaz said that Pakistan received a deposit of $2 billion from Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, so he thanked Saudi King Salman Bin Abdulaziz and Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman for it.

He also appreciated Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir for helping secure that deposit.

Shehbaz thanks Saudi Arabia for $2bn deposit

The prime minister, however, said that it was not the way of living.

He said that the people, who laid their lives for the creation of Pakistan, would be turning in their graves over the current situation.

“It is a moment of reflection for us. The country’s elite should have to ponder about it. It’s the moment to put the country on track,” he said.

Mr Shehbaz said that the country’s institutions, provinces and federal government had chalked out a comprehensive plan for the promotion of agriculture, information technology, and minerals, and increasing exports.

“India has progressed ahead but we have been left behind due to our own faults,” he said. The prime minister wondered what kind of life the country had chosen for itself wherein its leaders while visiting other countries could easily read the hosts’ disdain for loan requests writ large on their faces.

“Today, we have to decide whether to live uprightly or by begging,” he said.

Mr Shehbaz said that the government wanted to revolutionise agriculture and industries, and bring prices under control.

“These are our major challenges,” he said.

The prime minister said that 100,000 laptops would be distributed to the students in the country during the current year and that would happen purely “on merit.”

“Only merit can save this country. Safirsh and corruption have gained currency and it is the job of the youth to eliminate it,” he said.

On the occasion, the prime minister also inaugurated the Phase I of Fata University.

He, however, said that the university shouldn’t be called the Fata University as that nomenclature was a thing of the past.

Published in Dawn, July 12th, 2023