SWABI: Amir Muqam, adviser to the prime minister, has said that the PML-N government is committed to eradicating the menace of terrorism and militancy from the country.

He was speaking at a function after inaugurating the Swabi passport office in Haji Mastan Plaza here on Saturday. Pakistan Muslim League -Nawaz, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, president Pir Sabir Shah and other party activists from across the district also attended the inauguration ceremony.

“Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has made clear that his government would eliminate the menace of terrorism in the country. The policies of the government have been yielding positive results,” he said.

Muqam inaugurates passport office in Swabi

Mr Muqam said that the federal government had also declared to end massive power loadshedding. He admitted that power outages had badly harmed the industrial sector and national economy.

“The federal government has pledged that there would be no power outages in 2018. Both the people and the industrial sector in the country would get uninterrupted power supply,” he said.

He said that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had been claiming that it would establish 360 small dams and end loadshedding in the province. “I think that the PTI would not be able to dig even 360 wells and the completion of small dams is just a cry to mislead the people,” he said.

Mr Muqam said that people of the province had rejected the PTI’s policies and voted to power other political parties in the local government elections. “Even in Swabi district the PTI leadership failed to form the district government,” he said.

However, the PML-N leader said that people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had given mandate to the PTI leaders who should respect the same and work according to their expectations and demands. “We respect the people’s decision and have given free hand to PTI to work in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but so far it has failed to deliver,” he said.

He advised PTI chief Imran Khan to improve his performance and deliver in KP while giving up the politics of sit-ins. Mr Muqam said that the establishment of the passport office was a longstanding demand of the people of the district and the prime minister and Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had played a major role in this regard. However, he did not utter a word about Tarakai family’s claim that they had got sanctioned the passport office during the PPP government and that Mr Muqam should not inaugurate the project initiated by them. Sabir Shah and MPA Shiraz Khan also spoke on the occasion.

Published in Dawn, February 7th, 2016