Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif ON Monday announced the establishment of a university, launch of his Healthcare Insurance Scheme, an international airport and metro bus service for Hyderabad city.
Addressing a jam-packed gathering of enthusiastic workers at a party convention here, the prime minister also announced Rs 500 million for the development and upgradation of the Hyderabad city.
He said Hyderabad would be linked soon to the rest of the country with a network of six-lane motorways, providing speedy access.
Announcing an initial grant of Rs 1,000 million for the university, the prime minister also directed the PASSCO to increase its purchase of wheat crop from Sindh from previous 80,000 tonnes to 100,000 tonnes.The prime minister was generous to accept the party leaders’ demand of providing electricity to as many villages as needed, besides providing supply of Sui gas to the area.
He assured the residents of Hyderabad that survey teams would soon visit the city for data collection and then he along with programme in-charge Maryam Nawaz would come there to hand over health cards to the needy.
He urged the people to question the previous rulers for their apathy towards projects like extension of motorway from Lahore to Karachi and launching of more power projects to cope with growing electricity needs.
He apologized to the workers, who had to return without hearing him owing to the shortage of space at the venue and assured them that he would again visit them keeping in view their enthusiasm and passion.
“Pakistan is changing. A new Pakistan is in the making,” the prime minister said and added that the government had broken the back of terrorists and peace was returning in Karachi with business activity reviving and labourers working in a peaceful atmosphere.
He said Hyderabad had also been purged of terrorists, who were now on the run.
The prime minister reiterated his resolve to eliminate the menace of terrorism in toto. He said peace was also restoring in Balochistan where a vast network of roads was being developed under China Pakistan Economic Corridor. The prime minister said the country would soon get rid of unemployment, poverty and illiteracy, and medical treatment facilities would be made affordably available for everyone owing to massive development going on under CPEC.
He said Hyderabad would also benefit from that development as the city had earlier been deprived of clean drinking water with its road infrastructure in a shambles.
He said economic zones would also be developed throughout the country, besides establishing colleges and universities.
The prime minister said today heaps of garbage and pollution featured the Karachi city and recalled its previous condition when there had been complete peace with massive economic activities taking place.
Peace was again returning to Karachi as investors were back to hold their business meetings there which had earlier been switched to Dubai due to law and order situation there, he added.
Nawaz Sharif said the motorway network could not be expanded from Lahore since 1999; however his government took up the task and motorways were being built throughout the country.
He said the loadshedding had been remarkably decreased and reiterated his resolve to eliminate it completely by next year. Nawaz Sharif said once the network of motorways was developed, one would be able to easily travel from Karachi to Peshawar in a day.
He said the country’s internal demographics were changing owing to development activities and road infrastructure being developed from Gwadar to China border.
He said during the electioneering, the people should question the leaders of previous ruling parties as to what they had done to the country and plunged it into darkness.
“This is a very valid question. After this, you must decide as to who deserves your vote,” he urged the workers who had been chanting slogans ‘dekho dekho kon aya, sher aya sher aya’ and others.
The workers were carrying party flags and placards inscribed with pro-Nawaz Sharif slogans.
The prime minister said he had witnessed a great enthusiasm in Thatta, Balochistan, Punjab and even Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during his visits but the enthusiasm in Hyderabad was exemplary.
“This enthusiasm seems to be prelude to a change,” he remarked. Earlier addressing the convention, Minister for Railways
Khawaja Saad Rafique said the PML-N had made its presence felt in the province as the political party, which had been given the mandate to serve the masses and alleviate their sufferings, had miserably failed.
The PML-N had emerged on the provincial scene to provide alternate leadership to the masses in Sindh, he added.
He declared that with the support of whole populace of the province and like-minded parties, the PML-N would form next government in Sindh in 2018.
“We stand with those, who chant ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans, and will ferociously resist and counter anti-Pakistan elements by banishing their politics forever,” he added.
The minister said when the PML-N came into power, the country was mired in myriad problems, including the poor law and order situation, whereas the state institutions like railways were in a shambles.
Karachi and Hyderabad had been crippled due to unabated incidents of target killings, abduction for ransom etc; but the PML-N leadership resolved to counter all the challenges, he added.
The minister said within a span of hardly four years, there was a changed scenario as terrorists were on the run, duration of loadshedding was being reduced with each passing day while national exchequer had swelled. Now there was a complete change in the situation, he added.
Saad Rafique deplored that the plight of the people of Sindh had not changed, first they were subjugated by the Musharraf regime and now by the PPP-government, which had turned the whole province into ruins.
There were dunes of garbage in the province with pathetic transport system and broken road networks, he added.
After 18th Amendment, he said, the powers were devolved to the provinces and when Shehbaz Sharif could bring changes in Punjab, then why the PPP leadership could not bring such change in the lives of Sindh people.
Referring to the PPP government in Sindh, the minister said a party wanted to win election on the basis of mere slogans or just posing itself as an oppressed.
Time had arrived for a transparent leadership in the province, he said and mocked at the PPP leadership’s demands for setting up commissions.
He said talking about corruption and commission did not suit the PPP leadership that had miserably failed to ensure good governance in the province where corruption had crept into every department and officials.
PML-N Senator Dr Raheela Magsi said record development activities were being carried out during the tenure of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Welcoming the prime minister to Hyderabad on behalf of the people of the city, she said besides improving the country’s ties with other states in the region, the PML-N government had put the country on track of progress after tackling all challenges.
She particularly lauded the government’s steps for uplift of the agriculture sector and road infrastructure.
PML-N leader Shah Muhammad Shah said the government had put the country on the track of development and prosperity as numerous development projects were being carried out under CPEC throughout the country.
He said the PML-N would change the fate of the country, including Sindh, where the people had been deprived of basic amenities for long.
Sindh Governor Muhammad Zubair, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Asif Kirmani, Senator Saleem Zia, Member of National Assembly Waseem Ahmed, Senator Nehal Hashmi and Mayor Hyderabad were also present on this occasion. (APP)
