Daily Times

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Saturday that National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is a constitutional institution which can summon anyone to appear before it.

The Punjab chief minister was addressing the inauguration ceremony of Tayyab Erdogan Hospital’s expansion plan in Muzaffargarh.

CM Shehbaz Sharif while speaking about the probe body said that NAB has summoned him and if it wants to summon him again it can.

When asked about political opponents former president Asif Ali Zardari and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Chief Imran Khan, the CM Punjab said that speaking about Asif Ali Zardari is tantamount to wasting time.

“Pakistan wasn’t made for Zardari’s looting and Imran’s sit-ins,” Sharif said.

He said that if his party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz gets elected again, then in the next five years, it will bring southern Punjab at par with central Punjab.

NAB has summoned Sharif in the Punjab Saaf Pani Company case. The Punjab CM is to appear before the anti-graft body on June 4.

Sources within the anti-graft body informed that a questionnaire had also been sent to Sharif.

The CM had earlier appeared before NAB in the Ashian-e-Iqbal Housing Scheme corruption case.

Sharif has offered to educate Imran Khan in setting up new development projects.

Addressing media after inauguration of the revamped DHQ Hospital Narowal, the CM said, “Opponents call me ‘Showbaz’ and allege that I only construct roads and bridges and have no interest in health and education. I have arranged coaching for you in 36 districts of the province. You should come here and we will educate you about setting up new development schemes,” he said.

He said that Imran Khan used to claim that they will not develop jangla bus and roads in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but instead, health and educational institutions will be developed. “They have failed to set up any quality medical university, state-of-the-art pathology lab, new colleges or hospitals there,” Sharif added.

“Imran Khan has given attention to jangla bus at the last leg of his tenure and the whole city of Peshawar has been turned upside down in the garb of this project. People have had enough with the project. I may be dangerous because I developed hospitals and educational institutions for the benefit of the indigent strata,” he said.

The CM said that power projects worth five thousand megawatts capacity have been set up by the Punjab government with its own resources. “Despite scorching heat, if there is no load-shedding, then it is the reward of struggle of PML-N for overcoming the energy crisis,” he added.

He said that power projects have been installed in Punjab province but their electricity is being provided to the whole of the country.

“If we continued to work with same zeal, commitment, passion and hard work then Pakistan shall surpass Modi’s India after five years,” Sharif added.

Sharif added that that DHQ Hospital Narowal has been developed as a wonderful healthcare institution which can be compared with any hospital of Turkey and Malaysia.

Earlier, he inaugurated new emergency block, hepatitis filter clinic and CT- scan machine there. The hepatitis filter clinic has been constructed with an amount of Rs 3 crore and important sections have been added to this 300-bed hospital. The CM also inaugurated mobile health units for Narowal and Sialkot districts and handed over the keys to the deputy commissioners.

Published in Daily Times, May 27^th 2018.