Daily Times

LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday unveiled his party’s election manifesto.

The special ceremony held here at the party’s main office in Model Town was attended by former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abassi, AJK Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider and other party leaders. Addressing the ceremony, former Punjab chief minister counted several achievements of his party’s government during the last five years, especially decrease in the load shedding of electricity and successful fight against terrorism.

In the manifesto for July 25 general elections, headlined ‘Vote ko izzat do – khidmat ko vote do’, the party pledged to aspire for economic transformation by raising the GDP growth rate to over 7%; expand scope of investments in the country; minimise losses in state-owned enterprises and eliminate poverty by 2030 through several welfare programmes.

The party pledged to enable enterprise creation and employment; impart technical training to people; continue tax reforms to raise the tax-to-GDP ratio from 13% to 16% and create at least 100,000-200,000 jobs. It vowed to expedite completion of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project; promote value addition in agriculture and increase productivity; assist farmers with a farmer support package; increase the size of the IT industry from $3.1 billion to $10 billion; expand e-governance and citizen-centric services; bridge the digital divide by doubling the access to affordable broadband; scale up free public Wi-Fi hotspots to all major cities and increase representation of youth in democratic forums.

In the manifesto, the party pledged to open Pakistan to the world and improve its ranking to the top 50 on tourism and competitive index; add 15,000MW of power by 2025, including 5,000-7,000MW through Thar coal and hydroelectricity; provide energy coupons to the poor and require other segments to pay commercial rates; ensure speedy implementation of National Water Policy; create a world-class railway system; achieve universal primary enrollment by 2023; increase education spending to 4% of GDP and funding for higher education to 0.5% of GDP; ensure universal access to preventive and primary health care and undertake proper registration of religious seminaries through a system agreed by all the stakeholders.

The party also vowed to launch special welfare programmes for the uplift of minorities; increase maternity leave duration up to six months, with a minimum leave period of three months; establish community-level ‘Awami Adalat’ at easily accessible locations; reimagine the national narrative to foster tolerance, dialogue and diversity; rehabilitate and mainstream recruits of extremist organisations through social welfare programmes.

On the international front, the party pledged to hold dialogue with India to reduce tensions on an equal and strictly reciprocal basis for regional peace; strengthen inter-institutional dialogue to develop a shared vision of strategic issues; fortify ties with China even further and develop relations with Russia.

The party also pledged to make administrative and regulatory changes to ensure freedom of speech and expression in the country.

Addressing the ceremony, Shehbaz said people should see which party fulfilled its 2013 manifesto. “Main requirements which any country needs to follow in order to be able to stand on its feet include socio-economic protection, especially of those hailing from unprivileged backgrounds, then provision of health and education facilities and finally empowerment of the people,” he said. “After giving protection to people, we need to empower them.”

While referring to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Shehbaz said that he cannot promise one billion jobs like PTI but rather has set realistic goals such as 100,000 jobs for people to curb unemployment.

Former state minister Marriyum Aurangzeb read out a message from former prime minister and PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, who regretted the ‘political conspiracies’ his government was allegedly subjected to after coming into power in 2013. The fact that Chinese President Xi Jinping’s trip to Pakistan in connection with CPEC-related investment had to be postponed proved “how harmful dharnas (sit-ins) were for the national interest”, he was quoted as saying.

Sharif also criticised the ‘unprecedented’ court decisions that led to his ouster as prime minister and removal as party head. It is incumbent upon the PML-N to ensure the progress of democracy, political harmony, protection of rights of minorities, respect for women and supremacy of the constitution in Pakistan, he said.

Published in Daily Times, July 6^th 2018.