Economy will crash if political uncertainty continues: Iqbal

lahore — The country’s economy will crash if the prevailing political instability continues, said Minister for Interior Affairs Ahsan Iqbal on Sunday.

While speaking to journalists and traders in Shakargarh, Iqbal, who is also the planning and development minister, talked about the repercussions of economic downfall, saying the country would no longer be able to carry on with investment projects if that happens.

He said political instability in the country was being created to prevent Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PML-N) from gaining victory in the upcoming general elections.

According to Iqbal, politics and democracy should be given its space in the country as politicians are the advocates of people.

The interior minister said it is because of them that Pakistan has come back on the path of progress, with projects with billions in the pipelines. The minister also spoke about the major projects, saying no big water scheme was initiated in the country after the Ghazi-Barotha hydropower project.

Under the project, water from Indus River enters into a canal from Ghazi and then flows back into Indus River at Barotha after generating 1,450 megawatt of electricity on its way, he added.

Other than the hydropower project, Iqbal said the government also bought the land for Diamer-Bhasha dam for Rs1 billion, adding that construction of the dam would start this year. The interior minister said out of total $46bn Chinese investment committed under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), $29 billion have already been invested in Pakistan– changing its economic landscape.

“If political stability is not ensured and people’s mandate not respected, all such initiatives could go down the drain. Even Afghanistan will move ahead of Pakistan in development if these crucial areas are ignored anymore,” he warned.

Before 2013, the world looked at Pakistan as the safe haven for terrorists, frequent power cuts had made people’s lives hell and there was a fear of civil strife because of the energy crisis while the gross domestic product (GDP) was growing at a mere 3 per cent, Iqbal said. The PML-N had identified two major gaps– infrastructural development and energy crisis — in the economy and started plugging them.

Since the start of the CPEC, the world has started looking at Pakistan from a different perspective, he said and added that the world financial institutions, who read development level of different countries, now thought that this investment (CPEC) would lead to massive expansion in the country’s GDP within next three to four years.

If people’s mandate is not respected, all such (CPEC) initiatives could go down the drain. Even Afghanistan will move ahead of Pakistan in development if these crucial areas are ignored any more

Ahsan Iqbal, Minister for Interior Affairs