PAKISTAN-FRANCE/ KHAN

Headline

Imran Khan says expelling French ambassador will harm Pakistan, not France.

Intro

The Pakistani Prime Minister urges restraint, and calls for an intelligently thought out strategy to prevent economic damage to the country.

Story

Shotlist: ISLAMABAD , PAKISTAN    (APRIL 19,   2021)    ( PTV  – ACCESS ALL)

1. PAKISTANI FLAG ON SCREEN
2. (SOUNDBITE) (Urdu) PAKISTANI PRIME MINISTER IMRAN KHAN SAYING:   
3. “There are 50 Muslim countries, but no protests are being held there, no one is asking for the ambassador to be sent back. So, in the first place, this is not going to make any difference to France. But let me tell you what difference it will make to Pakistan. The biggest drawback will be to us, and at  a time when the economy is improving, and our industries are doing well after such a long time, people are getting jobs, our wealth is increasing, our exports are growing, our Rupee is getting stronger after a very long time. When we send the French ambassador back and break relations with them it means we break relations with the European Union. What does this mean? Half our textile exports go to the EU, so half our textile exports would be  gone.  Unemployment, because factories will close. And since our main export is textiles, the decline of export will put pressure on our Rupee; inflation will rise; poverty will increase.  So the loss will all be ours; France will not suffer at all.”
4. WIDE OF KHAN TALKING

 

STORY:   Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday (April 19) addressed the nation on official TV to call for an end to anti-France protests by radical Islamist that have rocked the country in the past few days.

 

The government outlawed the TLP (Tehrik-e-Labaik Pakistan )  last week after it blocked main highways, railways and access routes to major cities, assaulting police and burning public property.

Four police officers were killed and more than 500 wounded.

 

The violence erupted after the government detained TLP leader Saad Hussain Rizvi ahead of a planned countrywide anti-France campaign to pressure the Islamabad government to expel the French ambassador in response to the publication of cartoons in France last year depicting the Prophet Mohammad.

Khan said expelling the French ambassador would cause more harm to Pakistan than to France.

“When we send the French ambassador back and break relations with them it means we break relations with the European Union. What does this mean? Half our textile exports go to the EU, so half our textile exports would be  gone.  Unemployment, because factories will close. And since our main export is textiles, the decline of export will put pressure on our Rupee; inflation will rise; poverty will increase.  So the loss will all be ours; France will not suffer at all,” Khan said.

He said the Pakistani economy had just started rallying around, and this step would prove a great setback.

 

“In the first place, this is not going to make any difference to France. But let me tell you what difference it will make to Pakistan. The biggest drawback will be to us, and at  a time when the economy is improving, and our industries are doing well after such a long time, people are getting jobs, our wealth is increasing, our exports are growing, our Rupee is getting stronger after a very long time, “ the Premier said.

 

Tensions with France broke out in October last year over President Emmanuel Macron’s allegedly “blasphemous” comments on Islam and his defense of the cartoons, after a teacher in the European country was beheaded for showing the caricatures of the Prophet to his students.

 

Last week the French government urged its citizens to leave Pakistan due to rising threats.

 
Earlier on Monday, Pakistan opened negotiations with the TLP after they freed 11 police abducted during week-long anti-blasphemy protests against France in which four officers were killed.