ISLAMABAD: Vowing to “bring all mafias under the law”, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday said that some mafias were bent upon toppling his government but they would not succeed.

He said that after completion of its five-year term, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government wanted to see the rule of law and uplifting of the poor and downtrodden, which were the basic requirements of Riyasat-i-Madina (state of Madina).

“Various mafias have emerged with the passage of time to blackmail the government that they will topple the government if no NRO (National Reconciliation Ordinance-like concession) and immunity are given to them,” the prime minister said.

Addressing the groundbreaking ceremony of Naukundi-Mashkel road in Balochistan, at PM Office here, he said that no NRO would be given to any mafia and they would have to face justice.

Performs groundbreaking of Naukundi-Mashkel road in Balochistan at PM House

“I am determined to bring all mafias and powerful people under the law and will elevate [living standard of] poor people of the country,” the prime minister pledged.

He said that since the opposition feared the PTI-led government’s success, it had started claiming from day one that the government had failed because it could foresee its “political death” [in its success].

“Our government’s opponents and the mafias do not worry about the government’s failure but fear its success,” he said.

Mr Khan said when for the first time the PTI had formed government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, it had been a coalition government and the province did not usually give a second chance to political parties. “Yet when the next election came the PTI returned with a two-thirds majority and its opponents were in a very bad state. You can see what their condition is today,” he added.

“Now they [the opposition] have the same fear in all of Pakistan since our government came at the federal level. Now they’re afraid of us becoming successful hence they have started making noise from the first day that the government has failed because they see their political death [in its success],” he added.

Prime Minister Khan said that he wanted to see “all these big mafias being brought under the ambit of the law” and rule of law established in the country by the end of his government’s five-year term.

He termed this struggle for supremacy of the law as his “first objective”, saying that his second goal was to uplift weak segments of the society as had never been done before in the country.

The premier said that a great nation was made on the basis of two things: rule of law and a “system of humanity” or a welfare state as established in the state of Madina.

Talking about infrastructure development in the country, he said that his government was going to construct 6,000km roads basically to connect neglected areas with the main cities, particularly in Balochistan.

Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2021