In his maiden speech after taking over as the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan late on Sunday night said it is important to change the direction of the country or else it will head towards disaster.
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| Khan lashed out at the previous PML-N government for the current debt crisis which has risen to Rs 28 trillion. |
Addressing the country, the new Prime Minister said, "If we do not change our direction we will head towards disaster."
In his maiden address, Khan identified Pakistan's economic challenges and outlined the deficiencies in the health-care sector.
ON CORRUPTION
He lashed out at the previous PML-N government for the current debt crisis which has risen to Rs 28 trillion, saying the country had not been as indebted in its entire history as it has been in the last ten years.
"Never in Pakistan's history have we faced such difficult economic circumstances. Our debt burden is Rs 28 trillion. We haven't been as indebted in our entire history as we have been in the last ten years," he said.
"The interest that we have to pay on our debt has reached to a level that we have to take more debt to repay our obligations. Our external debt obligations have reached a level that we have to contemplate how we are going to grapple with them," Khan said.
He also pledged to make a high-powered task force to recover money stashed out of Pakistan 'illegally', saying that the people indulged in such acts are the real criminals of the country.
ON HEALTHCARE AND CHILD ABUSE
Pointing out the deficiencies in the health-care sector, he said that at present Pakistan is among the five such countries where infant mortality is highest due to use of contaminated water.
He called upon the people of Pakistan to team up with him to eradicate poverty, improve health-care system, provide proper nutrition to children.
Further raising concern on the cases of child abuse in the country, Khan assured strict action against the perpetrators and also pitched for better law and order situation in the country.
Will live in military secretary's residence, not in PM House: Khan ---- SUBHEAD
Khan, announcing austerity measures to cut down his own as well as the country's expenditure during his maiden address to the nation, said that he will not be staying in the sprawling Prime Minister House but in the military secretary's three-bedroom house in Islamabad.
"On one hand we don't have money to spend on our people; on the other hand, we have a section of our people living like our colonial masters used to live," he said.
Khan said his government would auction off all the other bullet proof cars and invited businesses to come and buy them to cut expenses nationwide. "Naya Pakistan also requires a new soch," he said.
Khan, 65, the chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, took oath as the Prime Minister of the country on August 18.
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