Daily Times

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Wednesday lashed out at Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, vowing to leave politics if corruption is proven against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family members.

Rejecting the PTI chief’s allegations of corruption, Shahbaz said, “I will leave politics if even a single penny of corruption is proven. The Supreme Court will decide who is guilty.”

He lambasted PTI for opposing major development projects of the country, including the Lahore Orange Line Metro project, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and the Kissan Package for farmers.

“I conducted talks with China and begged at their feet to help us with our power shortage. They did a great kindness to Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan,” he said. “China is the country which gave us a $46 billion package, of which $36 billion is for power projects. Is there any country in the entire world that has provided such a large sum for Pakistan’s progress?” he questioned.

He said the PTI chief claims to have no issues with CPEC, but Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak continues to speak against China and the CPEC, Shahbaz said, adding, “They are the hidden enemies of progress.”

He said the filthy designs of PTI would be unsuccessful, adding that by next year, the power shortage would end from the country.

It is pertinent to mention that PML-N’s back-and-forth with PTI comes as the latter is set to stage a lockdown of Islamabad on November 2 in pursuance of its demand for the premier’s ‘resignation or accountability’ following Panamagate.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was heavily critical of the PTI a day earlier, saying KP leaders are only found on containers. “Today the people of KP are searching for their elected leader. They are searching for those who promised them a ‘Naya Pakistan’ but they are only found on containers.”

Imran Khan responded to the premier’s statements by sticking to his guns on Panama. “2018 [general election] is far away. He has to answer now on the Panama leaks.”

The PTI chief met Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Sun Weidong on Tuesday to assure him the party’s protests were not against CPEC.

The same day, KP CM Khattak accused the federal government of cheating on the CPEC, saying the western route would not benefit KP if it was not used by the Chinese for transportation of goods and services and it did not have all the prerequisites required for a route because investors would hardly invest there.

Meanwhile, renowned Chinese company, Harbin Electric International Chairman Goa Yu met Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Wednesday.

Talking to the chairman of the company, the chief minister said that Pakistan highly values cooperation of China in energy sector, adding that work is being carried out speedily on energy projects throughout country whereas federal and Punjab government are working on three gas-based power projects set up with their own resources. He said that 3,600-megawatt electricity would be generated on completion of gas-based power projects and load shedding would decrease substantially and cheap electricity would be provided to the masses. Senior authorities of Chinese company, Planning and Development chairman, Quaid-e-Azam Solar Park Chairman Ch Arif Saeed and concerned officials were present on the occasion.