Imran Khan. File

Tariq Butt

Prime Minster Imran Khan has advised the Pakistani youth that they should not fear failure or criticism if they want to be successful in their life. Taking to Twitter on Monday, he shared a famous quote of former American President Theodore Roosevelt: “It is not the critic who counts.”

“The best advice for the youth of Pakistan: No one has ever achieved anything significant in life who fears failure or criticism,” he captioned the quote which has the picture of ex-president.

The quote is an excerpt of Theodore Roosevelt’s historical speech “Citizenship in the Republic” delivered on April 23, 1910, at the University of Paris.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

Earlier, Imran has said that Pakistan is committed to timely completion of projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and hoped that more Chinese companies would make investments in the country.

During his meeting with visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, the premier highlighted the importance of the proposed CPEC authority for speedy execution of the projects.

Imran also briefed the Chinese leader on the situation in Indian-occupied Kashmir (IoK) and both agreed on more high-level exchanges between Pakistan and China to further promote bilateral ties and shared goals.

The prime minister hoped that as the CPEC’s benefits expanded, more Chinese companies would invest in Pakistan and help support Pakistan’s process of industrialisation and its policies of greater agricultural productivity and innovation.

He highlighted that CPEC was a project of great national significance that contributed immensely to revitalisation of Pakistan’s economy. Khan underscored that friendship with China was cornerstone of Pakistan’s foreign policy. He briefed the Chinese side on the evolving situation in IoK following India’s Aug.5 unilateral and illegal action to strip the region of autonomy.

He stressed that the ongoing curfew for 35 days and continued lockdown and communications blockade coupled with massive human rights violations had created a dire humanitarian situation in IoK which needed to be urgently addressed.

The premier said that the curfew and other restrictions needed to be immediately lifted.

To deepen strategic cooperation, Pakistan and China should continue their close coordination and consultation to ensure that peace and stability in the region was maintained, he said.

Meanwhile, Imran has constituted a high-level committee to formulate short, medium and long term plans to address the issues being faced by residents of Karachi.

He formed the panel to address various public issues while chairing a meeting to review the cleanliness drive and other development projects in Karachi.

The committee would be headed by Minister for Law and Justice Farogh Naseem. Its members include federal ministers for Maritime Affairs, Planning, director general of the Frontier Works Organization (FWO) and others. The committee was directed to submit its early recommendations on the proposed plans.

The meeting was attended by federal ministers Farogh Naseem, Makhdoom Khusru Bakhtiar, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Syed Ali Haider Zaidi, special assistant Dr Zafar Mirza, Aftab Hussain Siddiqui, Firdous Shamim Naqvi and Haleem Adil Siddiqui, members of Sindh Assembly, FWO chief Major General Inam Haider Malik and other senior officials.

The meeting took stock of issues like supply of clean drinking water, sewerage, cleanliness, mass transit system and others. During the meeting, the prime minister expressed his serious concerns over the issues faced by the people in Karachi and said that the federal government would play its full role in the resolution of these issues. He said the federal government wanted resolution of these problems so that residents of the port city could get better facilities.