SUKKUR: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif Friday related terrorists with those pursuing the politics of agitation and said the nation has rejected the agenda of all those who were against Pakistan’s development and progress.
Addressing a large gathering here after performing ground breaking of the Rs 294 billion Sukkur-Multan motorway, the prime minister said the nation wants an end to poverty, unemployment, lack of health, education and other social sector problems.
“We will continue to serve the masses selflessly with the same vigour, zeal and commitment,” he said and added, “Pakistan would soon be part of the global economic powers.”
Nawaz said the politics of sit-ins had severely hindered the country’s progress and prosperity. He regretted that the country lost a precious year due to the sit-ins. He said the agenda of terrorists was to create disruption, chaos, law and order situation and push Pakistan back to the dark ages.
“A similar objective was being pursued by those who stage sit-ins, cause agitation and hinder country’s march ahead,” he said, and added that they wish to sabotage and divert attention of the government from development. “The people of Pakistan have given us their mandate and with Allah’s help, we will complete our tenure,” he said.
The prime minister said he wished that Leader of the Opposition Khurshid Shah was here at this grand event. “We are building a bridge in your area, while you are demanding my resignation,” he said, and added the opposition leader must understand and should not side with those who were against country’s progress and development.
The prime minister asked the crowd whether the situation in the country has improved over the past three years or not. He also questioned whether they saw improvement in situation in Karachi, law and order across the country, national economy, terrorism and other areas, to which the large crowd acknowledged again with a resounding applause.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said he was proud that PML-N always worked with complete transparency. He said former president Pervez Musharraf tried his best to dig out corruption of even a single penny against them but failed. He said Transparency International also endorsed this. Similarly other international agencies also spoke of improving economic indicators, lower corruption, increased productivity, he added.
The prime minister said today the load shedding of electricity was considerably down and there was more availability of natural gas. He said the electricity tariffs was now 30 per cent down, new industries were being set up and lots of economic activity being generated.
The prime minister said he was not afraid of anyone. He said his government always did its best to strengthen country’s defence and added had they feared anyone, they would not have conducted the nuclear tests.
He specifically mentioned the role of China in Pakistan’s prosperity and said with the $46 billion investment the country would soon be amongst the list of developed countries.
The prime minister said his dream of connecting the entire country with a robust linkage of roads, motorways and expressways was about to come true. He said the CPEC project would link China’s Kashgar with Gwadar, but the sections of motorways would also connect it to Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asian Republics.
He said the region, comprising three billion population in China, SAARC, Central Asian, was almost equal to the population in rest of the world and said the people here have a bright future.
Nawaz said he had envisioned the project of regional connectivity in 1990, however regretted that all his plans were shattered due to the situation in 1999. He said had he continued with his ambitious plans, things today would have been different altogether.
He recalled the recent groundbreaking of the Karachi-Hyderabad motorway and said work on the 296-km long Sukkur-Hyderabad motorway would start soon.
The prime minister also announced construction of the 125-year old Sukkur barrage and said the new bridge would be built at a cost of Rs 6.5 billion and work on the project would start this year. He said the old bridge would be preserved as a national heritage.
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