Pakistan is now peaceful with a bright future: Ahsan Iqbal

By
Riaz Andy
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Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal speaks at CPEC conference 

KARACHI: Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal on Tuesday commended China for trusting Pakistan in difficult times and reiterated that Pakistan is now a peaceful country with a bright future.

Speaking at a conference related to socioeconomic opportunities created by the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the minister said China signed on the project at a time when the world did not trust Pakistan.

“Now Pakistan is peaceful with a bright future,” he said, observing that Asia is the next economic powerhouse of the world.

“The assistance which the United States, Europe provided at the time of the fall of Berlin Wall, China is doing that now,” he noted, as he termed the CPEC “a mix of our 2025 Plan and the One Belt One Road project.”

Deputy Chief of the Chinese Mission in Pakistan, Lijian Zhao while addressing the event, said China’s present is Pakistan’s future.

The conference was attended by Chinese delegates, among other dignitaries.

Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal, at an event earlier this week, had said the government managed to eliminate terrorism to a large extent.

“The government has curtailed terrorism to a large extent and people in Pakistan are now spending peaceful lives,” he had said, noting that at least 25 citizens would become victims of terrorism in the past but most people were leading peaceful lives now.