LAHORE Jan 03 (TNS): Pakistan wouldn’t need foreign loans and pittances if its indigenous resources are properly harnessed.
The only time the nation broke the begging bowl was during PML 5 years. PMLN step-motherly treatment of agriculture is forcing farmers to sell land to real-estate developers.
Moonis Elahi, PML central leader voiced these views during a meeting held in Lahore with a group of Punjab citrus farmers. Commenting on the country’s current economic crisis, the PML leader said that Pakistan could turn into one of the richest nations of the world if only its abundant natural & human resources were properly harnessed.
He emphasized the emergent need of maximizing the country’s agriculture growth potential to minimize poverty and to reduce reliance on foreign loans & pittances. Citing the example of citrus yield in Pakistan, he said that according to the UN Pakistan was the world’s 10th largest citrus producer with an annual harvest of over 2.4 million tons but its citrus export was only a few hundred thousand tons.
It amounts to throwing away our Kinnows in garbage even when we know that they can become our key foreign exchange earners, said Moonis Elahi. He accused the PMLN step-motherly treatment of agriculture as the main reason for forcing farmers to sell out their lands and orchards to real-estate developers, marriage halls & foreign investment groups. Moonis Elahi claimed that in Pakistan’s 70 years the only time Pakistan was able to break its begging bowl was in 2007. He credited this historic achievement to the PML Kissan dost policies and economic initiatives adopted between 2002-2007 in Punjab.
