ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan Thursday reiterated that contrary to the past, Pakistan will never become part of anyone’s war and rather play a role for promoting peace among countries.

“We will fully strive for the establishment of friendly relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran,” he said, while addressing the launching ceremony of Rs 30 billion ‘Hunarmand Pakistan’ programme here.

The prime minister said he has also offered US President Donald Trump that Pakistan is ready to play a role in promoting friendly relations between the United States and Iran. “No one wins the war, and the one that wins, also loses,” Imran Khan remarked, adding Pakistan has paid a high price in the war against terrorism. He vowed to transform Pakistan into a model and peaceful country which will play a lead role in promoting peace among states.

The prime minister described the youth as the ‘biggest asset’ of the country, saying the Pakistanis are the second youngest population and its skilled youth alone can change the destiny of the country and the nation. He said the present government is hugely investing in the country’s human resource, particularly the youth, which were neglected in the past through various education systems based on discrimination between the rich and the poor.

The prime minister said under the ‘Hunarmand Pakistan’ programme, 500,000 youth will be equipped with the skills of modern technology such as artificial intelligence, big data, robotics, etc, during the next four years. In the first phase, the government has allocated Rs 10 billion for the training of 170,000 youth, he added.

Imran Khan said that under the programme, 500 technical training centres will be opened across the country, with 70 of them in Madaris (religious seminaries). The present government has adopted 2.5 million children of Madaris – which were never taken care of in the past – and brought them into the national mainstream, he said.

The prime minister said under the programme, 300 smart technical centres, affiliated with international quality institutes, will also be opened across the country. He lauded the establishment of the National Accreditation Institute, which will ensure standardization and certification of the skills and technical training centres, and help the skilled youth in getting jobs.

The prime minister in this respect referred to NAMAL College Mianwali and said over 95% of the NAMAL graduates and degree holders easily got jobs due to the standard and quality of education there. “We have to train and give skills to our youth so that they can get jobs and feed their families,” he said, and questioned how many jobs the government can offer. “The government’s job is to create an environment for job opportunities,” he added.

Prime Minister Imran Khan said the present government is striving to make Pakistan a truly welfare state in line with the vision of founding fathers as well as the philosophy of State of Madina, the main principles of which were justice and humanity. The government, he said, has allocated a huge amount of Rs 190 billion for the Ehsaas Programme under which efforts are being made to lift the poor and neglected segments of country for the first time.

The prime minister said 170 shelter homes have so far been established in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces so that the poor and homeless people get shelter and food for free. “I have asked the patrolling police in Islamabad to check and take the poor people sleeping on footpaths and open areas during night hours, to the shelter homes,” he added.

The prime minister said the government has launched Sehat Insaf Card (health insurance system) for the poor under which a family having the card is entitled to spend Rs 720,000 for medical treatment. With 6 million people already benefitting from the facility, the government is committed to provide health insurance to all the poor families across the country.

Similarly, the prime minister said the government is opening ‘Langar’ (free food points) for the poor and destitute near slums. He also referred to the government’s low-cost housing schemes and said five million housing units will be constructed during the next four years, which, besides creating jobs, will stimulate economic growth by boosting 40 allied industries.