LAHORE: PML-N president and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said on Saturday the party would be strengthened in Balochistan and hinted at paying a visit to Quetta soon.

Presiding over a meeting of the party’s Balochistan chapter office-bearers here, Mr Sharif stressed that all officials and workers of the PML-N needed to get united for the strengthening it.

In a reshuffle, the PML-N president appointed acting office-bearers for the PML-N Balochistan. Retired Lt-Gen Abdul Qadir Baloch was appointed as acting president of Balochistan chapter, while Jamal Shah Kakar and Mir Afzal Mandokhel were appointed as acting vice-presidents. Similarly, Saidal Khan was made the acting secretary general and Younus Khan Baloch acting additional secretary general, while Farid Afghan Khan was made acting information secretary.

Lauding the services of Sanaullah Zehri for the party, Shahbaz said he (Mr Zehri) had been working with dedication. The PML-N Balochistan officials expressed their complete confidence in its leadership and pledged they would come up to its expectations.

The meeting prayed for the early recovery of Begum Kulsoom Nawaz.

The meeting was attended by federal ministers Ahsan Iqbal, Abdul Qadir Baloch, Balochistan former chief minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri, MNAs Zahid Hamid, Hamza Shahbaz Sharif, Balochistan Assembly Speaker Raheela Durrani, Senator Dr Asif Kirmani, Jamal Shah Kakar, Mir Afzal Mandokhel, Saidal Khan Nasir, Younus Khan Baloch and Farid Afghan Khan.

Meanwhile, parliamentarians from Sialkot MNA Armghan Subhani, MPA Tariq Subhani and former minister Khush Akhtar Subhani called on Shahbaz.

The CM said: “The politics of abuses has no comparison with the politics of public service,” and added that it was his belief that people give extreme respect to those who served them. He said his government launched mega development projects in Punjab to serve the masses. He claimed the Punjab government’s projects had no parallel in terms of transparency.

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2018