LAHORE: Pakistan needs a professional Planning Commission lil(e the one that existed in the 1960s and 1970s for long-term economic planning to overcome the economic, political and social crises it is currently facing, said former foreign minister Khursheed Mahmud Kasuri.

Addressing as keynote speaker at the National Public Forum, hosted by Khurram Nawaz Gandapur of Pakistan Awami Tehreek, here on Saturday, he recalled the time when delegatesparticularly from the developing countries would come to learn about the working of the Pakistan`s Planning Commission and copy its five-year development plans.

He regretted that the countries, which copied Pakistan`s planning commission, are now known as developed while our commission gradually fell prey to politicking.

`Even a retail outlet cannot exist for long without planning; how a country may function without it.

He lamented that discontinuity in policies repeatedly led the country to economic and political instability as nowhere else in the world policies are changed by 360 degreeswith the change in government.

`When policies are changed at once, the process of development comes to a halt and shakes the confidence of the local and international investors.

Forum chairman Mian Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo called for a national dialogue to steer the country out of crises and lead it towards economic and political stability. Technocrats and experts of various fields should also be made a part of the dialogue process, he suggested, cautioning that the economic constraints have made lives of the common people miserable and they could no longer bear theincreasing economic burden.

Mr Wattoo thanked Mr Kasuri for joining the sitting and delivering a thought-provoking lecture.

He also thanked seasoned parliamentarian Sardar Nasrullah Dreshak for gracing the event.

Mr Gandapur said that through their brainstorming sessions, intellectuals and experts show the nation the light at the end of tunnel and steer their people out of despair.

He lauded the Forum comprising experts from different fields and patriotic Pakistanis for playing a positive role by putting forward suggestions to overcomevarious crises.

The unanimous declaration issued at the end of the sitting endorsed Mr Kasuri`s suggestion of establishing a professional Planning Commission consisting of experts from all walks of life which should devise shortand long-term policies for constructing new water reservoirs to overcome water shortage, frame an education policy that conforms to requirements of the contemporary world, develop agriculture sector for national food security, give a workable plan to get rid of foreign debt, improve governance and stabilise political and democratic processes.