'Out to manage Punjab,' says Shehbaz about PM Imran's Lahore visit

Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif termed on Friday Prime Minister Imran Khan's recent Lahore visit "an exercise in panic management," saying the premier is "out to manage Punjab" after drubbing in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) local body elections.

In a Twitter message, he also said that the premier doesn't know that "it is a payback time and nothing can lessen people's anger."

Shehbaz also accused Prime Minister of reinaugurating the "Lahore Knowledge Park," which was a PML-N government project, under a new name, Technopolis.

While launching Technopolis, Prime Minister Imran Khan had said on Thursday that the technology industry could end Pakistan's current account deficit woes.

“Technology sector could alone end Pakistan’s entire current account deficit,” said Khan in his address.

The special technology zone has been established under Lahore Knowledge Park Company, as the government aims to boost the country’s exports in the technology sector.

“Technology is the future of the world,” said the prime minister, adding that the turnover of companies including Apple and Google runs into trillions of dollars.

“As the world battled the effects of Covid-19 pandemic, tech companies were registering exponential growth in profits. Unfortunately, Pakistan is far behind in the field of technology despite having a young population,” he said.

Inaugurating Lahore Technopolis, PM says IT sector could end Pakistan’s CAD concerns

Khan said that the reason behind the development of these technology parks is to provide incentives to the IT sector in the form of tax breaks and improve ease of doing business. “We want to attract our IT firms and professionals working abroad so that they can invest in Pakistan,” the prime minister said.

“This would not only generate employment opportunities for the youth, especially for the female labour force but would also help us in enhancing our exports,” Khan said.

Pakistan’s IT sector has witnessed considerable growth in recent years, with the government enlisting the industry in its priority sectors, identified under the Strategic Trade Policy Framework (STPF) 2020-25, that seeks to enhance the country's export base.