Daily Times

PESHAWAR: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif Sunday expressed optimism that his party would emerge victorious in the next general election in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and launch an era of socio-economic development in the province.

Addressing a largely-attended public rally here, the PML-N chief said Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) leader Imran Khan was expert in telling lies and hurling accusations, who had badly failed to initiate any development work in KP which he used to claim during his last election campaign.

The KP people had now got fed up with the hollow claims of PTI’s leadership and their massive presence in rally is a testament to that fact, besides showing support for the PMLN, he said. Imran Khan could not digest the mega development projects launched by PML-N government, like power plants to overcome load shedding and building of a road network, besides elimination of terrorism, and out of his frustration started levelling baseless allegations against it, he added.

Nawaz Sharif said the so-called PTI leader could not manage to produce even a single megawatt of electricity despite his party being in government in KP for last four-and-a-half years. “Where is ‘Naya Pakistan’ … where are 350 dams … where are the schools and universities … where are the health and education sector reforms?” he questioned.

The PML-N leader said the KP police had to send DNA samples to the forensic laboratory in Lahore for testing as the province had no such modern facility. Had there been such facility in the province, the perpetrators of the grisly crimes like those of Kohat and Mardarn would have been traced and apprehended, he added.

Nawaz said it was ironic that the rapid bus service project was launched in Peshawar at the time when the PTI was breathing its last in the province, which reflected its leadership’s intentions and insincerity towards serving the KP people.

He said if the PML(N) formed the next government in the KP, the province would witness an era of progress and prosperity. Its people would have health cards and own houses, he added.

The PML-N chief paid tribute to the martyrs of Swat suicide attack. He said they were heroes of Pakistan who had laid their lives for the country’s integrity and sovereignty. “We salute them.”

Nawaz Sharif claimed that he was ousted from the prime minister’s office for no fault. He was not involved in any corruption or taking kickbacks, rather he was charged for not receiving salary from his own son, he added.

He said the court decision of his disqualification was erroneous, which had been rejected by the people of Pakistan.

Pointing to the huge crowd, he asked the people to vote for the PML-N in the next general election to enable his party to get amended laws which were hampering the pace of progress in the country. Had he not been disqualified, Pakistan would have become sounder economically, with youth having decent jobs, he added.

Nawaz said with the PML-N coming into power after the next general election, the country’s destiny would change with rule of justice. Every poor would have his own home. The party would bring KP at par with Punjab in terms of socio-economic development, he added.

Referring to the PTI-led government in KP, Nawaz Sharif said those ruling the province were only telling lies and levelling allegations. “He (Imran Khan) misused KP government’s helicopters for his personal use, besides committing embezzlement in the much hyped tree plantation drive, but even then he was declared honest and righteous,” he wondered.

Speaking on the occasion, PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz said Imran Khan had wasted his time on a container instead of initiating any development project in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as per his 2013 election campaign promises.

She said a massive turn-up in the PML-N public meeting showed that the KP people had rejected the sit-in politics of Imran Khan. She said the PTI government had failed to provide any healthcare facilities to the KP people as it had not initiated any project in that regard.

Published in Daily Times, February 5^th 2018.