He said Pakistan took pride of the way Malaysia had developed and had raised the standard of living under Mahathir’s premiership.

“We followed (Malaysia’s development) very closely as Pakistan has always had a good relationship with Malaysia. We admire you for that,” he said in a joint press conference with Mahathir after the Malaysia-Pakistan delegation bilateral meeting here today.

Imran said Pakistan also admired Mahathir for taking a stand on issues affecting the Muslim world, in which unfortunately, very few Muslim leaders would do.

“Like the war on terrorism, the way it affected the Muslim world, the way Islamophobia has spread in the western world, the way Muslims are treated because of confusing and deliberate political struggle.

“Any crime committed by a Muslim, and immediately the entire 1.3 billion Muslim population will be blamed for the crime,” said Imran.

Imran said that in the Muslim world the other leader apart from Mahathir who voices out on international issues and transformed the society is Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“We watched Malaysia transform and how the standard of living and per capita income had gone up. Now Pakistanis head to Malaysia because jobs were created,” he said.

Imran also said Mahathir and Erdogan were two examples of how statesmanship changed the country and society.

He then gave the example of the 1998 economic crisis where Malaysia was the only country to get out of the situation through “homegrown solutions”.

“We Pakistan now face a difficult economic situation and so many things to do to get out from it,” he said.