Daily Times

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday claimed that former president General (r) Pervez Musharraf offered him the slot of the prime minister during his presidential tenure.

Responding to questions in a brief media interaction after a ceremony that witnessed an agreement between the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) and the Punjab Land Records Authority (PLRA), he said that Musharraf had offered him premiership but he refused, saying that it was not possible without a democratic set-up.

Shehbaz said that good terms between ‘Rawalpindi and Islamabad’ were necessary for stability in Pakistan. While answering a question about a corruption reference being heard against him in National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Shehbaz said that all provincial departments have been directed to forward record demanded.

The CM denied having influenced any department to not comply with NAB’s instructions. “Impression of no-cooperation with the NAB is wrong” He added that the agreement between the NADRA and land authority was a result of team effort that led the government to end obsolete procedures and introduced digital registration and maintenance of land.

Under the agreement, the services of obtaining ownership deeds of public properties at NADRA’s 3,700 e-sahulat centres will be provided to the people. Punjab Land Record Authority Director General Captain (r) Zafar Iqbal and NADRA Chairman Mobeen Usman signed the agreement on the behalf of their respective organisations. Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif was the chief guest of the ceremony.

Separately, Punjab CM claimed that the Punjab government has successfully eliminated corrupt practices from the province.

He said that the 150-years old patwari culture was the worst possible system of administration, adding that the relevant authorities should take action against corrupt patwaris.

“Farmers of Pakistan were oppressed by the patwari system,” said Shehbaz. “Records used to be tampered with but that system was a thing of past now.”

Shehbaz went on to say that farmers could easily obtain loans against their property documents.

The provincial government has served the nation and we will never support any corrupt officer,” he said, adding that the province has conducted the process of self-accountability and has no objections to the role of the NAB.

The chief minister said that computerisation of land record had totally transformed the lives of hundreds of thousands of farmers. “An international moot of the World Bank, which was held in Washington with 126 countries in attendance, had termed the project as the role model for others. He said that land record centres were providing services at tehsil level across the province. Keeping in view the rush of the people at the centres, different proposals were pondered over by the government and the agreement signed with NADRA was part of it. Now, 3700 e-sahulat centres of NADRA will also provide services for obtaining ownership deeds and this process will be started in next two weeks, he added.

Similarly, the facility is also available at 17 ‘khidmat centres’ of the Punjab government along with 400 centres of Bank of Punjab. He said that Punjab government was also giving technical assistance to other provinces and Azad Kashmir government for implementation of the project there. “We are desirous that such centres should be available across the country.”

Published in Daily Times, February  22^nd 2018.