Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday said that the coalition government and the national institutions were in “unprecedented harmony and cooperation” to serve the national interests and steer the country out of prevailing challenges.

The prime minister, while addressing the Ulema and Mashaikh Conference in Islamabad, said that the country never needed unity and national harmony more, and he had never seen such a level of cooperation between a political government and the institutions throughout his political career.

“I had never seen such cooperation in my political career,” the premier said.

He said that collaboration between the military establishment and the government for Pakistan’s benefit was a “role model” for the future.

He said that the challenges pervading the country necessitated learning lessons from past weaknesses and mistakes and making sincere efforts to develop Pakistan.

He called for the efforts to wipe out Fitna al Khawarij — a term referring to Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan — which he said was involved in anti-Pakistan activities despite claiming to be a Pakistani.

Calling the May 9 attacks “the most heart-wrenching” incident in the country’s history, the prime minister highlighted that the characters behind the tragedy of 1971 met their fate in Bangladesh amid the recent developments in the country.

Prime Minister Shehbaz told the gathering that the government was making all out efforts to address the economic challenges and expected the upcoming International Monetary Fund (IMF) program to be the last one.

He said the coalition government was in consultation to work out a comprehensive plan to ease the burden on the inflation-stricken people and that the provinces would soon announce their respective plans.

He said the IMF Program was a compulsion to bring economic stability, productive employment and reforms in the FBR and power sector.

“The stability will only come if we plan for the productive employment of the 250 million people in the country,” Shehbaz said.