ISLAMABAD, Dec 7: Seemingly unhappy over criticism of the government for the current wave of price hike, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has advised the media to “guide” the government instead of “criticising” it.

Speaking at a ceremony on Saturday after inaugurating a Rs100 billion loan scheme he had announced for unemployed youths in his address to the nation in September, Mr Sharif urged the media to be just.

The prime minister admitted that the country had been witnessing a price spiral because of an increase in power tariff, but at the same time he complained about the role of media in highlighting this aspect. He said there was a hue and cry when prices of onion and tomato went up, but there was silence when they came down.

Without elaborating, he said it was painful to see criticism even of his good actions.

Interestingly, during his speech, Mr Sharif asked the participants what was the Urdu word for onion.

While giving his thoughtful advice to the media, he ignored the fact that his media managers, as usual, had not invited reporters to cover the event and that he never had had any interaction with journalists in the capital since assuming office in June.

Like all rulers, Mr Sharif blamed his predecessors for the current crises, saying his government has inherited big problems, including a weak economy, power shortage, terrorism and law and order. He, however, added: “We accepted the challenge and immediately started working towards solutions.”

Highlighting his achievements, he said the government had started new power projects, retired the circular debt and launched targeted operations against terrorists. However, he said, time was required to see results of his efforts.

Mr Sharif criticised Z.A. Bhutto’s decision of nationalising institutions, including factories and mills. He said it was because of this wrong step that investors had started leaving the country. He was of the view that before Mr Bhutto’s decision in 1970s, the country was making good economic progress.

Mr Sharif said during his previous governments they privatised banks and institutions which were running in losses and today they had become profit-earning institutions. He said soon his government was going to privatise loss-making institutions and departments.

The prime minister, however, said his government in the past five months had put its focus on the promises his party had made during election campaign.

He said the government had opened new avenues for youths to stand on firm footings. “During the election campaign, I witnessed the vigour and enthusiasm that the youths showed and I promised that the government should empower them so that they can contribute effectively towards development of the country,” he said. “I decided to accept heavy responsibility of forming the government only for youths and to solve their problems because they are the future of Pakistan.”

The prime minister claimed that there would be a complete transparency in awarding loan and an effective monitoring mechanism had been evolved to ensure merit.

He said Rs100bn had been allocated for this programme during the current financial year and in the first phase 100,000 unemployed youths would be provided loans through ballot. “No-one, even myself would have the authority to influence the loan awarding process,” he said. Under the scheme, he said, youths would have eight years payback time with a grace period of one year.

Mr Sharif said the government reposed complete trust in youths and expected that loans would be utilised effectively to generate business and employment opportunities. He said the government was also planning to launch a low-cost housing scheme for the poor.

Earlier, the honorary chairperson of the youth programme and the prime minister’s daughter Maryam Nawaz gave salient features of the scheme. She said the most important advantage of the programme was that youths would be converted from “dependents” to “providers”.

The programme comprises six schemes – Business Loans Programme, Micro-Interest Free Loans Programme, Skill Development Programme, Fee Reimbursement for Deserving Students Programme and Training Programme.

About 50 per cent of loans have been allocated for girls.

Maryam Nawaz told the gathering that pre-feasibility reports of 55 projects had already been prepared and were available on Smeda’s website.

However, she said, if the applicant had his/her own business plan that too would be acceptable.

The loan will be disbursed through the National Bank of Pakistan and the First Women’s Bank.