LAHORE: Prime Minister Imran Khan asserted on Saturday that Usman Buzdar’s nomination as Punjab chief minister had been made in the best interest of the province.

Mr Khan, who is chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, asked his party’s elected MPAs to stay united and work to turn around the fate of the province.

In his telephonic address to the PTI Punjab parliamentary party meeting, Mr Khan said the PTI government would not disappoint the masses and ensure that Punjab witness development and prosperity in the days to come.

Usman Buzdar said he would post bureaucrats on different positions on merit. He said the local government system would be strengthened and powers devolved at grassroots level.

Telephonic address to PTI Punjab parliamentary meeting

The vision of Naya Pakistan would be translated by empowering people at local level. “Imran Khan has taken a start by picking him from the remotest and least developed part of the province and now it is our turn to prove him right by serving the masses in Punjab,” he said and added that an era of development and prosperity would dawn in Punjab.

He also asserted that the deprivation of people living in south Punjab would be mitigated. They were completely neglected during the past many decades, he said.

Mr Buzdar said the PTI’s Punjab government would focus on education and health services to help this nation rise.

Punjab Governor-designate Chaudhry Sarwar said he would continue striving for taking everyone along and strengthen the democratic traditions and system in the province. He said this government would specially focus on education, health and environment.

“I will serve this province and its residents while working within the ambit of constitutional limits,” he said.

Punjab Assembly Speaker Pervaiz Elahi said he would carry along all the members of the Punjab Assembly and run the House according to prescribed rules and regulations. He said he would also focus more on the public schools and basic education centres to ensure that no one should be illiterate in the province in the years to come.

“We will restart our efforts in improving the education sector in Punjab where we had left in 2008,” he said.

Besides PTI MPAs, the PML-Q parliamentarians also attended the meeting for being coalition partners in the province.

Speaking to media persons, Mr Sarwar said the Punjab province affairs would be run by a team comprising the governor, the chief minister and the cabinet members.

“We all need to work as a team and solve long-standing problems being faced by people across the country,” he said. He also said the country was facing a plethora of challenges and no one could single-handedly solve these issues.

Mr Sarwar said every party member had welcomed the chairman’s decision about the Punjab chief minister candidate. He said the PTI team in Punjab would fulfill all the promises made by the party chairman during the election campaign.

PTI central Punjab president Abdul Aleem Khan said the foundation of “Naya Pakistan” had been laid after a long struggle of 22 years. “The PTI team will come up to the expectations of the people who voted for change to break the status quo in Punjab,” he said.

Mr Khan said the chief minister’s candidate was facing allegations and there was no evidence of corruption and any other crime against him. He said Usman Buzdar himself had denied that any case was pending against him. “Everybody has been given votes in the name of the PTI, therefore, all should work in unison to serve the masses,” he added.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2018