‘Our dream is for every Pakistani to have a house’

Photo: PTI/Facebook

Prime Minister Imran Khan performed the groundbreaking of the Naya Pakistan Housing Scheme in Okara’s Renala Khurd on Saturday. 

The government has promised to construct five million houses during its five-year tenure for low-income families.

“Mian Mehmood [Rasheed] said it’s difficult. Mian saab if it wasn’t difficult then the past two governments would have done it in the past 10 years,” PM Khan said, referring to the Punjab housing, urban development and public health engineering minister.

“We will do all the difficult jobs. They’ve already done the easy ones,” he vowed.

Related: The people need roofs over their heads, says PM Khan

He reminded his audience that an economy without ‘ehsaas’ (compassion) cannot progress. He gave the example of Europe, where he said the government is run in a compassionate way. “They care about their weaker members of society,” he said.

The premier said in European countries, the state takes responsibility for housing construction, healthcare, education, legal aid and food. This is a welfare state, begun in Madina by the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him), he said. In western countries, even animals have rights, he said.

Our dream is that every Pakistani has a roof over their head, he said.

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