PM Imran calls for immediate steps to avert humanitarian catastrophe in Afg

Monitoring Desk

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday reiterated his call for immediate measures to avert a humanitarian crisis in war-torn Afghanistan.
The premier’s remarks came while he was addressing officers of the Ministry of Foreign Ministry Affairs (MoFA) in Islamabad.
PM Imran congratulated the Foreign Office for successfully conducting the 17th Extraordinary Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers’ of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) last Sunday.
“Pakistan’s image has significantly improved at the international level during the last three years,” he said. “Now, the OIC and the international community has acknowledge Pakistan’s narrative.”
He further added that irrespective of liking or disliking the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan, the world should focus on the difficulties being faced by the 40 million people of Afghanistan.
“Pakistan can become a great country by focusing on self-belief,” the premier said. “We have to correct our system, uphold meritocracy, and ensure rule of law to put Pakistan on the path of development and progress.”
The prime minister further urged the officers of the ministry to shift their focus from geo-politics to geo-economics.
Earlier, the successful hosting of the 17th Extraordinary Session of the OIC’s Council of Foreign Ministers on Afghanistan drew worldwide applause for Pakistan for making the global community aware of the deteriorating humanitarian and economic situation in the war-ravaged country.
Convened by Saudi Arabia as OIC chair and hosted by Pakistan with 20 foreign ministers, 10 deputy FMs and 437 delegates in attendance, the session decided to establish a Humanitarian Trust Fund under the Islamic Development Bank and launch discussions with UN agencies for actions to unlock financial and banking channels for flow of liquidity and assistance.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) made ‘mistakes’ in the first phase of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s (K-P) local government elections.
The premier took to his official Twitter handle to admit that his party “made mistakes” and subsequently “paid the price”, attributing PTI’s loss to “wrong candidate selection”.
“Wrong candidate selection was a major cause,” he said.
PM Imran further stated that he will “personally” be overseeing PTI’s LG election strategy in the second phase of K-P’s local body polls, and LG elections across Pakistan.
He hoped that PTI “will come out stronger”.
The premier’s tweet came after the ruling PTI on Monday was dealt a major blow after Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) cruised to victory with its candidate grabbing the pivotal post of the Peshawar mayor in the local government elections in the first LG polls held in K-P since the merger of tribal districts, according to unofficial and unverified results.
The ruling party faced startling setbacks in most areas with the candidates of the opposition parties managing to defeat its nominees.
The PTI lost the Peshawar mayor seat to the JUI-F with a wide margin. According to the unofficial results, JUI-F’s Zubair Ali won with a margin of around 11,500 votes after securing 62,388, whereas PTI’s Rizwan Bangash received 50,669 votes and PPP’s Zarak Arbab got 45,000 votes.