Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan drew widespread praise on social media after dining with residents at a shelter for the poor that he had just opened on New Year's Day. Photos posted on the prime minister's Facebook page show him sitting down for a meal at the shelter at Tarnol in Islamabad, which was the fifth to be opened in the capital under the nationwide Panagah scheme launched by Mr Khan after taking office in 2018. The scheme provides free accommodation and food to those in need and is part of what Mr Khan says is a move towards making Pakistan a welfare state. "Prime minister of Pakistan Imran Khan spending first day of 2021 with needy and homeless people in shelter home. Great I appreciate," Iranian Twitter user Zara Ahamad wrote. "Pakistanis are lucky to have him as their leader," tweeted Tony Ashai, whose account profile describes him as a Los Angeles-based architect and designer. "While we sit in our comfy homes in freezing winter, there are many left out. As part of his plan and vision to make Pakistan a welfare state, PM Imran Khan inaugurated another Panagah," tweeted Faisal Khan, a senator from Mr Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party. "May Allah always bless this amazing human being, #ImranKhan. May all his dreams for our country #Pakistan come true," Urooj Hashmi, another Twitter user, said. In a message on his Facebook page, Mr Khan said 2020 was a tough year for Pakistan and for people across the world because of the coronavirus pandemic. "But by the grace of God we fared far better than most. We not only managed to protect our people but also saved them from hunger. We are moving forward to making Pakistan a welfare state," he wrote. "My New Year resolution for 2021 is to complete two projects. One, universal health coverage to all our citizens," Mr Khan said. He said the health scheme had already begun in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and would soon be launched Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan. "Two, we will start our most ambitious nationwide project 'Koi Bhuka Na Soyay' (No one should sleep hungry in Pakistan," he said. "By the end of the year these two projects will move us closer to our goal of making Pakistan a welfare state.” Mr Khan has come under increasing political pressure from the opposition in recent months after they formed a united front as the Pakistan Democratic Movement and began holding rallies across the country to protest against his government. The PDM said it would launch a march on the capital if the government does not resign by January 31.
