ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) said on Tuesday that the five-year tenure of its government was a “story of fulfilled promises” providing a base for mass support for the party in the coming general elections in the country.

Addressing a news conference here, some PML-N leaders criticised the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) recently announced 100-day action plan and termed it a “conman’s gimmickry to mislead voters”.

The news conference was led by Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal who was accompanied by seven other members of the federal cabinet — Miftah Ismail, Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari, Marriyum Aurangzeb, Baleeghur Rahman, Saira Afzal Tarrar, Haroon Akhtar Khan and Rana Muhammad Afzal. Adviser to the Punjab CM Malik Ahmad Khan also present on the occasion.

They claimed that the PTI-led provincial government had failed in delivering on its promises in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. They alleged that the PTI had foolishly tried to copy the PML-N’s Vision 2025 for its 100-day plan. The party had failed to explain how it would be able to achieve targets of its plan, they added.

Mr Iqbal said that people could judge the performance of the PML-N, PTI and Pakistan Peoples Party’s provincial governments during the previous five years.

Counting the successes of the PML-N government at the Centre, he said it added 10,000MW electricity to the system in four years and increased the country’s growth rate. “We have turn around the economy and international credit rating agencies and financial institutions recognise these successes,” he added.

He said the PML-N government had also been successful in improving the country’s security situation, adding that peace had been restored in Karachi.

Party leaders claim Imran has tried to copy govt’s Vision 2025

“Nobody would say energy and security are main problems today unlike they were five years ago,” he said, adding that the national economy was now at a take-off stage with restored growth momentum. He said the country needed continuity of policies and stability and could not afford ‘‘inexperienced, conmen, incompetent, incoherent and fraudsters’’ at the driving seat.

He said the people of the country would not forget PTI’s performance in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa over the past five years and would not be misled by the party’s 100-day plan. “We will not let you run away with tricks for future 100 days without explaining what you delivered over the past 1,825 days in KP,” he said, calling the PTI chief a “NATO (no action talk only) commander”.

Finance Minister Ismail said the PTI had painted a series of intangible imaginations. He said he had tried to give costing to some of the tangible targets claimed by Mr Khan that worked out an additional expenditure of Rs1.598 trillion per annum or about Rs8 trillion for five years but sadly there was no matching plan how these funds would be generated or if new taxes would be imposed.

Mr Akhtar said the PTI chief talked about constituting a task force to bring back looted wealth from abroad for poverty alleviation and debt reduction without knowing that funds stashed in offshore companies were operated by laws of that country and not by task forces.

He said the PTI chief had announced an action plan five years ago for KP to introduce accountability and had wound up the accountability bureau within 90 days when his cabinet members started raising questions.

Mr Leghari said it appeared that Mr Khan was living in the past when he said he would come up with a roadmap for creation of a southern Punjab province, while the PPP and PML-N had gone far beyond that stage by passing resolutions in assemblies.

He said Mr Khan perhaps did not know that his KP chief minister had signed Pakistan’s first unanimous National Water Policy a few days ago when he promised improving water policy in first 100 days in office.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2018