LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said that unprecedented development programmes initiated by the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) government has unnerved opponents. “Despite repeated obstacles of political opponents, Pakistan is moving towards overcoming the energy crisis,” a statement issued Friday quoting the chief minister as saying. The chief minister said that those levelling baseless allegations on the incumbent rulers were not well-wishers of the country. “Politics is the name of public service. The people who are unaware of politics are conspiring to spread anarchy in the country. Their politics is based on deceit, allegations and accusations, which has damaged the country tremendously.” In a veiled yet apparent reference to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Shahbaz said that the “sit-in group and former corrupt rulers were two sides of the same coin”. He said that people were well aware of those who were serving the country and those spreading anarchy and hindering development process. He said that such elements were not sincere with the nation and the country. “Political stability is essential for economic development, said the chief minister, and added that a handful of politicians were incurring damage of billions of dollars to the national economy through sit-ins. The chief minister said that the PTI’s politics was based of hypocrisy. He advised PTI leadership to shun “negative politics” in the larger interest of the country. Shahbaz also criticised previous government for not paying any attention towards energy crisis. Without mentioning their names, he said that former rulers had pushed the country towards darkness. He, however, claimed that the PML-N government under the leadership of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had reduced the load shedding in the country by completing work on different energy projects. He went on to say that the incumbent government had set a new record of transparency in the uplift projects during the last four years. He said that the opponents of the PML-N could not point out corruption of a single penny in development projects. He expressed hope that the people would once again reject negative politics of such elements as they had done it in 2013. Separately, the chief minister Friday expressed grief over the sad demise of Pakistan Movement worker Irfan Ali Shah. In a condolence message, the chief minister prayed for the eternal peace of the departed soul and grant of courage and strength to the bereaved family to bear the irreparable loss with fortitude. Irfan Ali Shah was father-in-law of Shahid Rasheed, Nazaria Pakistan Trust secretary, and Haseeb Pasha, former deputy director public relations. Published in Daily Times, July 22nd , 2017.