LAHORE: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif presided over a marathon meeting in Murree on Friday in which a strategy was formulated to implement development projects during the remaining 22 months of his government’s current tenure.

The meeting continued for about seven hours.

According to a statement issued by the PM Office, the prime minister will visit various parts of the country during the coming month to review the ongoing development projects.

He himself will oversee the projects to ensure their timely completion.

Appropriate persons had also been selected to fulfil various responsibilities in this regard, the statement added.

Apparently as a part of the plan, Prime Minister Sharif will address a public meeting in Sialkot after inaugurating the Sialkot-Lahore motorway project on Aug 9, almost a month after Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan held a rally there.

Sialkot public meeting to mark launch of work on another motorway

According to a member of the federal cabinet, the public meeting is being held to mobilise the PML-N cadre after a report hinted at weakening links between the party leadership and the people.

“A report authored by [Punjab] Governor Rafiq Rajwana for internal consumption has pointed out that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz MNAs and MPAs are in contact neither with the local party leaders nor with the masses,” he said.

To improve the situation, he said, it had been suggested that the prime minister should address public meetings.

This would motivate the party’s lawmakers to follow suit and boost the morale of the workers, he added.

The public meeting will be organised by the PML-N and local members of the provincial assembly.

The minister said that Mr Sharif had agreed to address the rally and the security authorities had been asked to make arrangements for the event.

Mr Khan addressed the rally in the district on July 8 during the campaign for the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) elections.

The prime minister’s planned public appearance comes at a time when the opposition parties are planning to mount pressure on the government over the Panama Papers leaks regarding offshore holdings.

He made his first public appearance in Muzaffarabad after his open-heart surgery by addressing a rally on July 25 to mark the party’s landslide victory in the AJK polls.

The PM had undergone the open-heart surgery in London on May 31. He continued to stay in the British capital for about another six weeks to recuperate and returned home in a special PIA flight on July 9.

He may address more rallies in the coming days in what many think an attempt to mobilise his supporters to counter the opposition’s campaign against him.

Meanwhile, the governor’s political report has raised some eyebrows.

Opponents argue that being a representative of the federation, the governor must be apolitical instead of “running errands” for a political party.

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2016