Daily Times

LAHORE: Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday said that the success of a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) backed candidate in the Sargodha by-election was the manifest of public trust in the PML-N-led government’s policies and a triumph of the politics that are based on principles of public service, trust and transparency.

The chief minister while congratulating PML-N-backed candidate Yasir Zafar Sandhu as well as the party workers said that after success in Lodhran, Sargodha by-polls had reaffirmed people’s trust in the PML-N leadership and their policies.

“People have shown the mirror to the elements playing politics of negativity, falsehood and allegations. The elements involved in the politics of agitation, chaos and sit-ins have been defeated in Lodhran and Sargodha,” he said and added that the results of the by-elections were writing on the wall for those who tried to drive the country towards chaos.

Shehbaz Sharif said that by rejecting such elements, people have given a clear message that there was no room for politics of anarchy.

The chief minister also said that public service was the pivot of the PML-N’s politics and it was the reason why the people had always given it precedence in the general elections.

“The people are desirous of national development and prosperity, and the recent by-elections have proved that the masses want PML-N’s policies to continue,” he said and added that the PML-N was the most popular political party in the country due to its positive style of politics.

He also said the elements engaged in leveling baseless allegations would get nothing but a sense of penitence in the next elections, while on the other hand, he added, the people would reaffirm the PML-N’s policies through their votes.

Chief Minister Shehbaz said that loyalty to the PML-N ran in the blood of the people as the party always took practical steps for public welfare.

He reiterated that wellbeing of the masses and improving their quality of life was the priority agenda of the PML-N and projects aimed at giving a respectable social status to the general public through improvement in the quality of life would be accelerated after getting an opportunity of public service again.

He also said that defeat had become the fate of those involved in sit-ins and politics of agitation because “change was ensured through practical steps instead of hollow slogans.”

“The practical steps taken by the PML-N government guarantee national development, while playing negative politics is not public service,” he said. “Hearts of the people can be won only by prioritising public service. My heart beats with the people and I have always tried my best to serve the masses,” added the chief minister.

Criticising his opponents, Shehbaz said the “so-called claimants of change” had nothing to offer to the masses. “Niazi Sahib wasted five years in sit-ins, lockdown and politics of allegations. Instead of serving the people in his province, he tried to obstruct the journey of development in Punjab and wasted time of the people. This is why the masses will never forgive him,” he added.

He also said the development work in Punjab was an example of its own and the PML-N could now face the public with full confidence in the upcoming general elections. “If the voters elect us in power again, the journey of national development will be carried out with more vigor and zeal,” concluded the chief minister.

Published in Daily Times, March 6^th 2018.