Factual Freedom Meaningless Without Economic Freedom: CM Punjab Shehbaz Sharif

Chief Minister Punjab Shehbaz Sharif said that factual freedom was meaningless in the absence of economic freedom as no one can command economically strong nations

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th Feb, 2018 ) :Chief Minister Punjab Shehbaz Sharif said that factual freedom was meaningless in the absence of economic freedom as no one can command economically strong nations.

He said, "We have to move forward by relying on our own resources and to stand on our feet to fulfill the goals of establishment of Pakistan and this destination cannot be achieved by tactics but practical hard work and collective efforts".

Also, we have to make the 21 million people prosperous as per interpretation of the dream of Quaid-e-Azam and Iqbal", he added. The chief minister shared that in order to bring peace and prosperity to the country and to replace despair with happiness, there was a dire need to diminish the gap between the rich and poor.

He expressed these views here on Saturday while addressing an inauguration ceremony of the book "Governing the Ungovernable" by former Governor of State Bank Dr. Ishrat Hussain. Addressing on the occasion, he said that participation in this book launching ceremony was an honour and matter of immense pleasure to him.

He said that Dr. Ishrat has written a wonderful book on the situation, issues and challenges faced by the country as the title of this book was indicating the challenges. Furthermore, he added that in 1990s Pakistan was ahead of many neighbouring countries in terms of economic growth and South Korea had made progress by adopting our 5-year development plan.

He said that it was evident that economically strong nations were respected in the world while weak nations always get dictation, adding that standard human resource was necessary to achieve development goals and objectives can be achieved only through resource development, effective planning and its implementation.

Effective system of check and balance was needed in the politicians, bureaucracy and all institutions for the rapid development and system can be strengthened economically by opting across the board accountability, he shared.

The chief minister said that undeniably development process could be expedited by transferring the powers to the lower level and local bodies institutions can play effective role in this regard.

No heed was paid on the annual audit of these institutes during the dictatorship era in the past, he added. Shehbaz Sharif the Punjab government had also focused on quality human resources and promoted financial discipline as well as transparency in the province.

He said that the Punjab government has taken unprecedented measures to shrink the differences between rich and the poor by fair distribution of resources. In addition to it, he said that the government had completed all development projects including energy projects with transparency and progressive models have been set up by saving billions of rupees in development projects.

Addressing the function, former Governor State Bank Dr. Ishrat Hussain said that Shehbaz Sharif had improved the system through his good governance and the measures, taken by him for the development of the province were appreciable.

Dr. Ishrat Hussain said that Shehbaz Sharif's efforts against the corruption were commendable and he was a committed leader as well as reformer who have ensured recruitment of millions of teachers on merit in Punjab while efficiency of institutions has been increased through the information technology.

Dr. Ishrat Hussain also presented his book to CM Shehbaz Sharif. Speaker Punjab Assembly Rana Muhammad Iqbal Khan, Provincial Ministers, Member National and provincial assemblies, Lord Mayor Lahore, Chief Secretary, intellectuals and education experts were present at the function.