Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal said Manmohan Singh borrowed the idea from Sartaj Aziz

Islamabad: Pakistan has squandered the economic growth opportunity in the past because of political instability, Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal has said, asserting that "tanks and missiles" alone cannot save a country.

Iqbal, who is also the Minister for Planning and Development, claimed that during the 90s then Indian finance minister Manmohan Singh borrowed economic reforms strategies from his Pakistani counterpart Sartaj Aziz and successfully implemented them in India, the Express Tribune Reported.

There was a time when terrorists had surrounded us but today the state has cornered them. If we squander this opportunity, the history and future generations will not forgive us, Ahsan added.

He said in 2013 Pakistan was using 2G wireless technology but the country would now be among the first users of the 5G technology in the world.