Islamabad: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday said he would have quit the government by now if he weren’t a sportsman. The prime minister was addressing the inaugural ceremony of Under-21 games at Peshawar Sports Complex.
“I would have conceded defeat in politics but sportsmanship and fighting spirit taught me to stand up and learn from failure,” Khan told a cheering crowd.
The Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Shah Farman, Chief Minister Mahmoud Khan, ministers and provincial leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) were also present on the occasion.
“I would have stepped down from heading this kind of government but I accepted it as a challenge. Life is a competition, and one should not be scared of facing defeat,” said the prime minister adding, “A person is defeated truly when he accepts defeat.”
Pakistani youth have great talent that will also be reflected in sports competitions, said the prime minister. This is third occasion in a week that Khan has referred to the mounting problems his government is facing. The prime minister is reportedly not happy with his ministers with regard to providing relief to the masses against price hikes and shortages of essential items at utility stores.
On Saturday, the prime minister expressed his annoyance at the “unprofessional” conduct of his cabinet members, saying sometimes the opposition doesn’t even need to do something against the government as its ministers’ performance was sufficient to land the government in trouble.
“When the opposition does nothing, some minister makes such a statement that it becomes difficult to handle the fallout,” PM Imran was quoted as saying during a meeting with the PTI’s social media team.
“Some ministers of my Cabinet spend more time in Kohsar Market than in their offices,” he said, taking a jibe. Kohsar Market is a popular market where ministers, leading journalists and elites of society are often seen taking tea and whiling away time.
Earlier, Khan, owing to the internal rift in the PTI’s provincial chapter, had cancelled his visit to Karachi to give condolences to the family of his long-time associate and founder member of the party Naeemul Haq. He was also scheduled to announce a number of development projects, including university and roads, etc.
The government, however, announced he had to cancel his visit due to bad weather.
In September last year, the Prime Minister’s Office had also issued a “red letter” to 27 ministries for a “critical delay” in the tasks assigned to them. The letter — which was viewed as a final warning and an expression of displeasure — was issued to the secretaries for 27 federal ministries out of a total of 34 ministries.
