Daily Times

LAHORE: Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal Saturday said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif would appear before the Supreme Court (SC) if summoned in the Panama Papers case.

Talking to newsmen after distributing laptops to students of the Government College University, he said there was no justification for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) planned sit-in in capital over Panama Papers as the Supreme Court had already taken up the matter. He said sits-in had inflicted huge losses to the economy in the past.

The minister said the PTI should come to the parliament to record any protest on any matter if it believes in democracy. Ahsan said the PTI’s plan to lockdown Islamabad would only damage its democratic credentials.

Earlier, addressing the ceremony, the minister said government was distributing laptops to the brilliant and deserving students purely on merit. He said, “This is an ear of information technology and we will have to encourage our youth to excel in this sector.” Referring to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the minister reiterated that the economic corridor would prove to
be a game changer for Pakistan.

He said that democratic system was now fully in place in the country and balloting was the only way to bring change. Pakistan, he said, had made a substantial progress and would continue to make a solid and irreversible progress under the leadership
of Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif.

“Three years ago, Pakistan was labelled as the most dangerous place on earth by the international media, but today the same media recognises Pakistan as an emerging market and a destination for billions of dollars of CPEC investment,” he said.

He also claimed credit for “improved situation of law and order in Pakistan. “Isn’t it a change,” he asked the audience while counting the achievements of the incumbent Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government.

In the history of Pakistan, he said, the PML-N government had brought the biggest portfolio of investment in the energy sector.

He said several power projects having 11,000MW generation capacity would be installed in the next three years.

Speaking on the occasion, GCU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Hassan Amir Shah called upon the students to make positive use of the laptops being provided to them by the government. “I know it is difficult to keep yourselves away from social
media but your prime objective should be research and learning.

He said that the federal government was providing laptops to 1,100 students of the GCU this year.

Later, the minister and the vice chancellor gave away laptops to the MPhil and PhD scholars of the Government College University, while rest of the eligible students would be provided laptops next week.