States its people its economy and the way it deals with the rest of the world the bottom line only on aljazeera wall. Would see. A manhunt captain pakistan to victory in the cricket world cup in 1992 when he bowled his last cricket ball he made his final runs one of the worlds best known sportsman with time to devote his time to social work. But politics came calling always a vocal critic of in demick or option confound of the Party Pakistan to hurricanes up in 1996. Which allies promise was to ensure justice for all us Party Chairman hahn won his 1st seat in the National Assembly in 20026 years later his popularity soared when he boycotted the election in principled stand against corruption. To the surprise of the political establishment in the capital islamabad hundreds of thousands of supporters rallied in lahore and karachi into 1011. 00. After several political victories his campaign appealing to the Younger Generation succeeded with the promise of creating a cold crops and free pakistan. Khan was sworn into office as the countrys 22nd Prime Minister in august 2018. So 2 years on how is the fight against corruption going how is he coping with the geo political changes how to turn the economy around what about humor bites and Media Freedom and how hes managed in pakistan. Response to the covert 900 pandemic some of the questions we put forward as the Prime Minister of pakistan iran hern talks to al jazeera. I. Pakistans Prime Minister thank you for talking to Prime Minister 2 years now empower those who were watching you 2 years ago still remember the promises you made about clamping down on corruption is banishment unemployment falling debts creating 10000000 jobs providing low cost housing sophisticated. Services and Health Services for many people by the way mr Prime Minister you havent so far delivered on those promises why. Think about any economy in the world which fear is similar problems what pakistan 1st huge deficit external and internal. And then the bar sector in serious trouble no country going to mediately snappers finger and everything reforms to close its a struggle nuveen the economy reforming the economy is not an overnight pain it takes time because you know the whole mindset more incentive structure and then you have to change the way Government Works ease of doing business incentivizing the right structures the right sectors it takes time but in my opinion in these 2 years back is that has moved into the right direction perfect i understand your point but you know people are very impatient about change ill give you an example the middle class which saw in you and ill turn it is. Is the one which is massively affected by the situation g. D. P. Is shrinking inflation is spiking to the point where a kilogram of sugar has spiked from Something Like 53 repeats to 85 rupees im talkin. Across all the other basic commodities these people cannot wait longer to see their Living Conditions improved. Unfortunately you know in the dream world in fairy tales there are these Quick Solutions you have a magic wand and a Society Changes and real life when you want to pick your country op and change direction its a struggle i do not want my country to always be boring for its. Existence pakistan has to change the structure of raising your revenues it takes reforms and that cutting down you expenditure what weve done corruption is one of the biggest killers in the Society Today that is norm mega Corruption Scandal in pakistan because at the top level weve controlled that problem and still we have corruption low down the levels which is again going to be a struggle we need to take a lot of steps eventually to do a control corruption at all levels but its a struggle its not going to happen quickly and so reason why. We have not been able to clamp down on corruption is because those who come into power and. Make money using the power to make money have never been held accountable. And so this is the 1st time in our history that the powerful are being held accountable lets move on to the whole world not only pakistan grappling with the fallout from this pandemic from june where people were thinking that this could be a nightmare scenario for pakistan to know where the the number of infections seems to be falling down what happened in between mr Prime Minister in pakistan we made of probably the best decision very difficult decision we decided not to have the sort of lot down that was a europe or that was a. Hand in china we decided to go for a smart draw down in other words. You know concentrate on hotspots and wrote them down rather than a blanket lockdown because in my opinion when you have high levels of poverty when you have daily wages people who have to earn to feed their families and in arc is we had almost. Over half our workforce was informal going to the so if we put a lot down on these people there was more chance of people starving to death were still talking about domestic issues him surprise i would like to talk about the freedom of speech which is under attack in your country i still remember when you said repeatedly in the past there is absolutely no way that Media Freedom or freedom of speech would because curtailed and my watch its now being curtailed and your watch mr Prime Minister. What is the evidence can you just how good doing the freedom tell you International Human rights organizations as well as local organizations are talking about a trend where journalists activists critics have been intimidated silence kidnapped to the point where they are saying that pakistan has one of the worst records in the world for enforced disappearances and my 2 years in power tell me how many journalists have been kidnapped in pakistan people talked are talking about cases honorable intimidate intelligence let me answer this let me answer. If all i want any independent and independent student do just in these 2 years in pakistan do an assessment of freedom of speech as in the papers or as on on on media i can tell you that no country in my countrys history nor government has taken such criticism. Criticism i dont mind but blatant propaganda against the government like it has happened against us so do you think these accusations are maliciously motivated. Please explain. What almost 20 years of my life in england by law what freedom of speech has in england some of the things that have come up in the media against me and my government ministers had that happen and in england we would have claimed millions of dollars of damages unfortunately its asked the government and the ministers who feel unprotected its not the media there is not one instance maybe the some journalist we dont even know what the reason was he was picked up for a few hours. In these 2 years its unheard of what they call intimidation i mean if someone published a fake news against the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister then takes them to the court. Is that is that intimidation it happens everywhere in the world if if the british Prime Minister was subjected to the sort of things that i had have been he would have been know millions of dollars richer because he would have won in the libel cases i know what is this is so if anything the pendulum has. Gone the other way we need protection people are asking questions about why senior military officers are taking charge of many major departments in pakistan when you should have been putting more civilian faces for the International Image of your country mr Prime Minister. Ward International Image this is a democratic government we won an election we challenge anyone to do question the election we asked the opposition name us any constituencies which you think you were you dont get a fair result were ready to open them up let me put it this way how would you describe your relationship with the armys top brass i think this is you know in our history weve had a checkered relationship between the civilian and government sometimes we have all of obviously had military governments than we were civilian governments you know where there has been an uneasy relationship we have an excellent relationship i honestly think it is the most harmonious relationship we we have complete coordination we Work Together the military completely stands with all the democratic governments policies who are there it is with india where there is for peaceful solution and afghanistan everywhere the military stands with with us this is going to be a time thats talk about regional issues and of understand him particular you have encouraged all the parties to resume talks let me ask you this specific question mr Prime Minister the ultimate goal of the peace talks is eventually to see peace and stability in afghanistan do you think that the best formula would be a power sharing between the government in afghanistan and the taliban look. This 19 years of war and of violence than. Has created such divisions in the society theres been so much bloodshed that for anyone to believe in this utopia that suddenly they will all get together and theyll be peace im afraid its a very complicated situation but given the complicated situation and by the way i was the one who kept saying that there was never going to be a military solution that there should be a political solution had there listen to me earlier we probably would have less complications the longer this war went the more the rivalries the divisions and the more difficult it is to actually sit down together with all the rest but this is the nearest we have got to peace in afghanistan and a political solution but then whats the end game for a pakistani perspective what is the end game here for the pakistani perspective would you enjoy or welcome the idea of a power sharing agreement where the taliban along with the political establishment now in kabul come together and form a National Unity government are you in favor of that formula yes or no mr Prime Minister. What ever the of ones think is good for them is good for us ok whatever influence we could use i honestly think weve tried our best to some or get the taliban and Afghanistan Government sit on one table and you know this is a miracle that it is actually happening we pray that this this happens we realize that the spoilers im afraid the people of the certainly one country india which does not want it to happen and this is exactly what i wanted to ask you you have been always skeptical of talking about the of a pakistan established political elite they have always been skeptical of the post taliban governance in based in kabul is it because you feel like they are leaning more towards india or that india could take advantage of the situation to to create a new political realignment well look if you were pakistan you have a neighbor 7 times bigger than you. And then it starts meddling in the affair of of of a government which it has no boundaries with india has no boundary with violence than but pakistan has a huge boundary with the world as the un and all our relationship with the one has done even before pakistan came into being it was a centuries old know when india starts interfering unfortunately our Security Forces a security operators gets wired its natural it would happen to any other country but we have decided we in pakistan have decided we dont care what india does there but whatever is good for of one stand is good for us we feel that peace and of oneness than after after of honest on the other country which is a stake in peace in afghanistan is pakistan because instability there creates instability on the Border Regions what was a former tribal areas. And that affects the whole of our country even saying basically that you are always open to dialogue with the indians to and the issues that youve been having with it for many many decades particularly the issue of general and kashmir now its been a year since the india decided to revoke the special diggnation of the region effectively annex in general and kashmir. Do you have any hopes that with not in the modi you can sort this out. Look let me just make it clear i do not believe in military solutions i have never believed in military solutions the moment i became the Prime Minister i extended a hand of friendship to india but the tragedy of india. Is india is being ruled by an extremist its an extremist government it is it is a hindu supremacist government inspired by the the ideology this is spied by the nazis and what im saying the nazi germany what im saying all you have to do is look at the history of r. S. S. Which basically is ruling india now it was an extremist or Good Organization r. S. S. Tris was outlawed outlawed in india as a terrorist organization there now control over 1300000000 people Nuclear Armed thats the tragedy of whats happened india or india better than most pakistanis its not just that are listening to it and its not what theyre doing at kashmir. Its for people in india are the sensible the normal people in india its a tragedy for their what is happening there but dont you see that pakistan itself should understand that they cannot continue as a country to see themselves as the victim forever and just give you a hint here you have been trying to rally International Support the United Nations Security Council met 3 times about kashmir absolutely no strong sign of solidarity with your country or symbolic gestures dont you feel like youve been have banned by western allies. Number one. Is a disputed territory between pakistan and india since 70 years no this disputed territory on 5th august last year was taken over by india by brute force it 1000000 people and in an open prison. And 800000 in the troops in the valley who are not oppressing them now we have not all those and we will keep doing so we went to the united spoke in the United Nations Security Council ive spoken to the heads of states this is an extreme and justice not just for people of. It if this escalates and if this breaks up into a conflict between pakistan and india this has implications for the rest of the world thats why its serious but it was not saying anything right around the problem because. This is we make it clear. Let me make it clear show the reason why the word or or certain parts of the world are not responding because unfortunately countries worry about the commercial interest they look upon india as a huge market and so they are willing to ignore this huge travesty of justice that is taking place there it doesnt mean that we will sit down quietly and accept this we will keep trying i understand your anger and i understand your frustration is the reason why your foreign minister. Delivered an unprecedented sharp rebuke of the organization of the islamic countries about kashmir him particular to the point where the saudis were really really angry about what your problem is. First of all its not frustration i believe that countries struggle yes we wanted or easy to take a more front. Role and in the whole thing yes yes we did but let me make it clear saudi arabia will always be a friend of pakistan but yes we want to see to take a bigger role in the soul thing if youve been definitely following the years recently. And you have seen the declaration of normalization of ties between the United Arab Emirates and israel which the americans said is a breakthrough in the region and theyre looking forward to see many many more arab and muslim nations follow through whats whats your take as Prime Minister of pakistan any one sided settlement which is going to be imposed on the palestinians is not going to work because the issue will never get resolved and you know if israel is in a very strong position right now probably the stronger to sever been its backed by the United States but israel too must recognize this that if they do nor allow palestinians to have a just settlement a viable state this issues not going to die down even if some countries recognize israel its not going to die down it will just keep festering its it israels interest that they should be or just settlement china where does the economic door stand now were talking about an am precedented mammoth project estimated at Something Like 62000000000. 00 many are hoping this is good something that could change the face of your country youve been skeptical about some aspects of it you wanted to renegotiate some aspects of the deal with the chinese has that been reworked with the chinese counterparts i dont know whether you come up with these ideas about not being dragged reed negotiated we have you know you know you say that during the you said that yourself when youre campaigning. 2 years ago about the economic corridors and that not you want not true not true this is not true. Look where our relationship is better than ever before for us the way we look at it from pakistan our future Economic Future is now linked to china china is growing at a faster pace than probably any other country and pakistan you know can really benefit from the way turner has developed the way it has lifted people out of poverty when you say china is our future are you hinting that youre resetting ties with the United States of america which has been your ally in the eightys or the ninetys and which has always been critical of the deal with china saying that it could just put you in a debt trap why does it have to be either or pakistan doesnt have to be any camp every country looks looks. To its own interests what is the best for people of pakistan why cant we have a Good Relationship with everyone we probably have the best relationship with the United States right now because we are partners in peace in afghanistan we did not have such a Good Relationship few years back we have a very Good Relationship right now and i do not see why the its the china or the United States mr Prime Minister this is going to be my last question to you if you remember those who voted for you those who had faith in you those who saw you as an outsider not affiliated with the traditional political dynasties of pakistan and those who had genuine hope that pakistan to morrow will look different modernized strands parent efficiency in terms of economy and moving forward departing from the past you country unfortunately to now and its political its impractical or is trapped in a past mindset and you know. You must agree with me that you have this very small window to change the country otherwise its going to be too late do you have that feeling are you concerned about that potential what are you going to tell the people who are going to vote for you in 2 years from now. I dont look upon pakistan like the way you are saying you have a small window i think pakistan is a country of tremendous potential the biggest change in pakistan if you want to know what is the change in pakistan is the 1st time in pakistan we are changing it from an at least a little system pakistan has what we call a lead capture unfortunately pakistan the rich kept getting richer and the poor getting poorer we have we have changed the salting all our policies whether it is the construction policy worry whether it is the education policy or like anomic policies aimed at raising people out of poverty the difference between pakistan of now and before our main concentration are the people of pakistan policies aimed at giving them justice giving them Education Health system 1st time youve got Health Insurance in pakistan so that the poor people have Health Insurance they can not worry about the cost of treatment these are new changes in pakistan 1. 00 Education System course syllabus which from next year starts we have 3 tier system so were changing the way pakistan will grow. Prime minister of pakistan i really appreciate your time thank you thank you thank you for talking to us as you. Yes so she has mental disease accounts for 50 percent of all deaths of children and. All that. But for all the. Things that are likely to receive any childhood education. You just leave us here to. Try. To. Seize. A unique yet endangered biodiversity lies in the heart of one of ecuadors tropical jungles there was a lot of misinformation about a city i knew most of which have here and now the probability is becoming law so there are some conservation there communities aljazeera johnnies deep into the rain forest to follow a scientist im tied teams i fight to save the flora and for nothing so precious in the region women make science ecuadors Hidden Treasure on aljazeera this is one of the both astounding technological revolutions in all of this made our planet great that we have to meet the c o 2 emissions targets electric cars that make the mitcham in motion they need to be mindful when people are just talking about cars if thats going to solve. The world of business and commerce driving Energy Transition is the promise of clean energy an illusion of the top side of green energy. On aljazeera. We understand the different space and similarities of cultures across the wound sentimental value taking out you seeing. The nice and current affairs. Counters the. Condemnation mounts against the commander in chief as President Trump denies marking americas war dead as losers and suckers. Follow him down jordan this is our 0 live from doha also coming up touted as a diplomatic window for trump serbia and kosovo commit to closer economic ties after days of talks in washington. An armed group accused of mutilating civilians the new threat its posing after briefly occupying a
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