ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday unveiled the Women Empowerment Programme which is being initiated at a total cost of Rs10.4 billion.
Addressing the ceremony, he said women are more than 50 percent of the country’s population, adding that women are an integral part of the society. “Women are serving on important positions in the country,” said the prime minister, and stressed upon provision of equal opportunities to them as they consisted of half of the country’s population and were playing varying roles at different strata of society.
“The IMF board will meet on Wednesday and I hope the agreement takes place,” he added. He said it was a matter of concern for all of us, adding that if we wanted to break the shackles of slavery, we needed to use all resources.
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PM Sharif asserted that Pakistan was moving towards long-term stability, underscoring the need to streamline affairs by learning “lessons from the past”.
The prime minister said that the country’s womenfolk were an effective and energetic segment of society, playing effective roles in families and society as mothers, sisters, wives, and daughters.
He observed that in the last 75 years, the required opportunities for women empowerment were not sufficient and stressed upon making further efforts for securing women’s rights including inheritance rights and the creation of opportunities in a conducive environment.
“Look around the Muslims world and the West, the women have played their due role for progress and prosperity of their respective nations,” he added.
Lauding different prominent women personalities of the country, he said that they had served as great ambassadors of Pakistan in different capacities.
The premier said that there was no dearth of talent in Pakistan as they were blessed with great minds, but there was a need to harness their true potential with the creation of opportunities.
Commending the rural women, he said that ratio of the rural area women in the national building capacity was immense, as they had been working in fields alongside men.
He further observed that to achieve a proper place among the comity of nations, both genders of the country had to work together. He underlined the need for the provision of financial and equal opportunities to women in different fields.
“The women segment of our society is the driving engine for the country’s economy and serves as builders of the nation,” he added.
Referring to the current day challenges, PM Shehbaz expressed his gratitude to the brotherly country of Saudi Arabia for extending financial support in the form of $2 billion deposit with the State Bank of Pakistan.
The prime minister questioned that as a nation for how long they would continue to depend upon foreign loans, adding, “It is the pricking question?”
He said a neighbouring country of Pakistan in the year 1991 sought the last IMF programme and then did not require any other financial programme.
The prime minister underscored the need that they had to streamline their affairs by learning lessons from the past and “like an active nation we have to move ahead”.
For a year, he said that he had never faced such severe financial issues, triggered further by last year’s floods, global inflation, and the Ukraine war which posed a huge challenge for the country’s economy.
About the International Monetary Fund programme, he hoped that it would proceed accordingly. Terming the foreign debts as fetters, he said the nation has to rid itself of ‘financial chains’.
The prime minister highlighted that they had to focus on the development of agriculture, exports, and exploration of precious minerals worth trillion of dollars.
He regretted that billions of dollars had been wasted on litigation in the past and the country did not get a single penny in profit which made them suffer collectively.
The prime minister without elaborating said that all the political leaders and dictators were equally responsible for those woes. “If we show determination, the country can emerge within days,” he added.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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