MIANWALI: Calling for “jihad” against political horse-trading, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Saturday promised to name and shame those politicians who were looking to become senators by using their wealth.

He was addressing a public gathering during a visit to the Jinnah Hydro Project Colony near Jinnah Barrage in Kalabagh. He had earlier unveiled a plaque for the inauguration of a project to supply gas to Isakhel tehsil and surrounding areas of the NA-71 constituency. The prime minister was joined by lawmakers from the area: Obaidullah Shahdi Khel and Mumtaz Tamman, provincial Minister Raja Ashfaq Sarwar, and party leaders Hanif Abbasi, Anjum Aqeel and Siddiqul Farooq.

In a veiled reference to the Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) alleged involvement in the government change in Balochistan, the PM said a party without any representation in the Balochistan Assembly was trying to win Senate seats from there, by using illegal methods which were against the norms of democracy, and aimed to deceive people.

How could a political representative selected through an illegal process serve the people, he asked, saying that such law makers would only work for their own vested interests. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) believed in positive politics and that was why it was one of the most popular political parties in the country, he said.

The PM claimed that his government had fulfilled all the election promises made to the public in 2013. He said the rate of progress and development in the country was an example of that. “We laid the foundations of progress in our country and have almost ended loadshedding.”

He appreciated the Punjab chief minister’s efforts, and claimed that the CM had set records in his tenure compared to other provinces. The PM criticised the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, claiming that it had made empty promises of providing electricity, but could never deliver.

In his address, MNA Shadi Khel apprised the PM about the district’s problems.

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2018