Shehbaz reiterates call for signing charter of economy
LAHORE: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has once again urged all political parties to agree on unanimous charters of economy and democracy to evolve consensus over national issues to steer the country out of crises.
Addressing a ceremony in honour of Danish School Graduates in Lahore on Saturday, the PM said no difficulty can hinder the progress of country “if we all sit together and end our differences”.
Meanwhile, addressing a ceremony in Sharaqpur town of Punjab’s Sheikhapura district after laying the foundation stone of road projects,Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif urged the people to review the “pathetic and poor performance” of the “corruption-tainted” government of PTI with that of PML-N — which he dubbed the “pioneer of mega development projects” — before voting in the upcoming general elections.
The premier said the PML-N would accept the public mandate in the upcoming polls and vowed to restore the “real image” of Pakistan if the party got another opportunity to serve the country under the leadership of his sibling and PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif.
The various development projects included a 19km-long Lahore bypass linking Kala Shah Kaku with the Lahore-Karachi Motorway at a cost of Rs35 billion.
PM Shehbaz also broke ground for the expansion of the Lahore-Karachi Motorway Saggian road and main Ravi bridge.
Later, he laid the foundation stones of the Esaan (Sharaqpur) interchange at Abdul Hakeem Motorway, the Quaid-e-Azam University campus as well as a scout college.
Declaring his brother Nawaz Sharif as “a builder of Pakistan, the man behind ending load-shedding, launching of multi dollars China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects and a builder of a vast network of roads and putting the country on the path of rapid progress,” he said Nawaz aspired to transform the country into “an Asian tiger”.
“Unfortunately, [Nawaz] Sharif’s rule was ended in 2018 through a huge conspiracy hatched against Pakistan,” the prime minister regretted. “If the PML-N was in the government during the four years of PTI’s rule, the country would have had a different destiny.”
He went on to say that during the years 2013 to 2018, under Sharif’s rule, the country was “progressing by leaps and bounds”, but afterward in the PTI’s government, the country was pushed into chaos.
PM Shehbaz said with a change in the regime, all the opposition leadership was sent to jail on the basis of fake cases, false allegations of thefts and corruption were leveled, and “even sisters and daughters were sent behind bars” during the PTI’s rule.
“The development pace spurred by the PML-N government was halted,” he added.
The prime minister also questioned PTI chief Imran Khan’s claim of bringing back $300 billion stashed outside Pakistan within ninety days, adding that the PTI government did not get any single penny during the four years of its rule.
Referring to the Al Qadir Trust case involving alleged whitewashing of Rs50 billion, he said, the UK National Crime Agency (NCA) had investigated the issue and after an out-of-court settlement with the other party, decided to return the amount to the government exchequer but it did not go to State Bank of Pakistan and instead to the Supreme Court where Imran’s government became a party. Agencies
