LAHORE, Nov 29: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Saturday warned Pakistanis against the dangers of trying to solve problems through the IMF route and cited the Chinese model as an alternative to overcoming challenges.

He was briefing a group of editors and columnists, with special reference to his recent visit to China and identified economy as one of the biggest issues the country was faced with along with the threat to security that had been further highlighted in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks.

The chief minister spoke passionately about the progress China had made and ascribed it to a strong leadership. “Today, no country in the world can dictate to China, a country which won independence two years after the establishment of Pakistan,” he said.

Mr Sharif asked as to what stopped Pakistan from emulating its great friend that had “stood by us” in all situations. He did not, however, expound on the specific conditions that may be bogging down Pakistan’s advance on the pattern of China. Notwithstanding his sincere desire, Mr Sharif, for instance, didn’t elaborate on the systems of governance and two different brands of politics practised in the two countries, especially the role religion played in determining political responses in Pakistan. He did talk about Shanghai’s GDP being equal to that of Pakistan but did not touch, and was not asked about, population control as being an important plank in the Chinese development policy.

In the course of the discussion that followed the briefing, Shahbaz Sharif was asked questions about the current Punjab-Islamabad ties besides his relations with Governor Salmaan Taseer. The chief minister said he had replied to the letters he had received from the governor and never had the inclination to react to Mr Taseer’s statements in the media.

Mr Sharif reminded his audience that the Feb 2008 result was an indictment of Gen Pervez Musharraf and his cronies and emphasised on the need of acting upon the Charter of Democracy signed by Mian Nawaz Sharif and Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. “If not all, some of the basic promises in the charter have to be fulfilled. The 58 (2)-b and the 17th amendment to the Constitution have to be done away with,” he said. Also, he reiterated that the society could not exist, let alone progress, without a free judiciary in place.

Mr Sharif spoke about the need to promote agriculture and agro-based sector as an answer to the troubles the country is in right now. “One bumper crop could catapult us out of this crisis situation,” he remarked. Inevitably, he recalled the general deterioration suffered during the previous government and in answer to a query, gave details of some of the steps his government had taken for improvement in the area of education.

Towards the fag end of the meeting, the chief minister’s attention was drawn to the plight of Punjabi and one questioner went on to say that the language will be extinct in 50 years. “Let us form a committee on the subject,” Mr Sharif replied briefly, putting off the discussion on the matter to a gathering in the future.