Harming Economy Through Sit-ins and Protests Is Anti-State, PTI Should End Long March: PM Shehbaz

ISLAMABAD Report By Muhammad Saleem: Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif said on Tuesday that damaging the economy and Pakistan’s global image through sit-ins and protest politics amounts to acting against the country, and urged the PTI to come to its senses and call off its long march.
Addressing the groundbreaking ceremony of the Kashmir Chowk underpass in Islamabad, he said a joint committee of the government and the Pakistan Peoples Party held two days of talks with PTI in the Speaker’s chamber. However, he said, the agreed draft was repeatedly changed by the other side, making it clear they did not intend the talks to succeed. He added that the government would take all possible steps to protect lives and property, and that the law would take its course against those causing harm.
The prime minister said the economy had been put back on its feet through two and a half years of effort. He said exports in September rose compared with both September last year and the full year, with IT exports and remittances also increasing, and warned that protests would hurt exports and industrial output.
The Kashmir Chowk underpass will be built at a cost of Rs1.45 billion and completed within a month. The three-lane underpass will keep traffic from Faizabad, Bhara Kahu, Murree and Azad Kashmir moving without interruption.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said less than a year remains before the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) conference, and all projects are being completed on schedule. He said the underpass and expressway service lanes will cut travel time between Rawalpindi and Islamabad to 16–18 minutes. He added that F-9 Park is being turned into an international-standard recreation centre, that Asia’s largest safari park is planned for the capital, and that Islamabad will be made plastic-free by Dec 31, with a separate cashless-city initiative. Both are overseen by Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry.
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry were also present.