BANNU: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has reiterated his promise that he will go home if corruption of even a single penny is proven against him. However, at the same time he has severely criticised opposition parties for making what he called baseless allegations against him.

The prime minister was addressing a public meeting organised by the PML-N’s coalition partner in the centre, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), here on Tuesday.

JUI-F chief Maulana Fazalur Rehman and federal Minister Akram Khan Durrani also delivered speeches on the occasion.

Mr Sharif said people had given mandate to the PML-N for solving their problems. His government, he added, was working for the revival of the country’s economy so that problems of people could be solved.

He rejected allegations of opposition parties and accused them of trying to disrupt the country’s path of progress. The government was not afraid of any threat and would continue to serve the masses, he added.

The prime minister said he had written a letter to the chief justice of the Supreme Court for forming a judicial commission to investigate the leaked Panama Papers. “If allegations against me are proven I will resign before anyone asks me to quit,” he added.

Coming down hard on opposition parties, particularly Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf of Imran Khan, Mr Sharif said they were making hurdles in the way of development and progress. He vowed to frustrate all those who were against progress, saying that opposition parties were trying to mislead people through hollow slogans. Those who were raising the slogans of ‘Naya Pakistan’ had given broken roads and poor health and education facilities to the people of Khyber Pakhutnkhwa, he added.

The prime minister said during his visits to Peshawar, Mansehra, Shinkiari and other parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa he had noticed poor condition of schools and hospitals. “Where is Naya Khyber Pakhtunkhwa?” he asked while criticising the PTI-led provincial government.

The prime minister vowed to make a ‘new Bannu’ and announced plans for the upgrade of the Bannu airport as an international airport and other infrastructural and power projects in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including a university in Lakki Marwat, development of Baran dam, an electricity transmission project for Bannu and repair of the Indus Highway from Rangeela to Dera Ismail Khan.

Published in Dawn, May 4th, 2016