Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif Saturday urged Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan to make amends with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif.
“Khan sahab says that Shehbaz Sharif is more dangerous than Nawaz Sharif. Khan sahab, it took you so long to realize that Nawaz Sharif is a gentleman and I am dangerous. You should reconcile with Nawaz Sharif now,” Shehbaz said while speaking at Khawaja Farid University in Rahimyar Khan.
“I am a dangerous man and I will continue building hospitals, roads, and universities. I am a dangerous man and I will make Pakistan great again,” he stressed, adding, “The dangerous man will continue working for the benefit of people.”
Taking a dig at those demanding freedom for people of southern Punjab, he said, “People who are chanting slogans in favour of southern Punjab are the ones who turned it into a desert during their tenures.” He said the PML-N government took revolutionary steps for the development of southern Punjab during the past 10 years. He said 36% of resources had been provided for 31% population of the province, while for the past two years 45% funds had been provided for the development of the area.
Shehbaz said the credit for CPEC went to Nawaz Sharif and those who did not deliver and instead looted national resources had now joined hands. “In the upcoming general elections, the people should vote for those who spent national resources on the development of the people,” he said.
Shehbaz remarked that PML-N government worked tremendously for power generation in the country. “We completed projects worth billions of rupees for power generation in the country,” he said. “In 2013, there was no power in the country. If the light went, it wouldn’t come. Electricity still goes but it comes back unlike before.” He shared that 12 more universities will be built in Punjab.
Earlier, Shehbaz formally inaugurated the academic block of the Khawaja Fareed Engineering and Information Technology University in Rahim Yar Khan. He visited various departments of the varsity and inspected its libraries and labs.
Speaking to the students, the chief minister said the state-of-the-art university was a gift for the people of southern Punjab and the PML-N government had established it to ensure a bright future of the region’s youth.
“Khawaja Fareed Engineering and Information Technology University is not a favour to south Punjab, but it is their right,” he said, and added that he was pleased to see that both male and female students of Daanish schools were seeking education at the varsity.
“Other departments besides engineering have also been set up at this university and students from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as well as Balochistan are also studying here,” said the chief minister. “You are the guarantee of the bright future of Pakistan and you will make the country proud. It’s our job to provide the best resources and we will continue doing this.”
“We have placed solar panel parks in the Cholistan desert, people are coming back to Pakistan from abroad to serve their homeland, such has been our progress,” he said. “I dreamt of this university in 2015. Every female student used to get a stipend of Rs200 in government schools after the 6th grade, but I increased it to Rs1,000,” he said at the ceremony.
Published in Daily Times, May 6th 2018.
