GUJRAT: Referring to a comment made by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in which he had alluded to hidden hands behind politics in the country, his younger brother Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said at a public meeting on Thursday that there were no ‘aliens’ to get worked up about, adding that national institutions, especially the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), should work within their constitutional domain.

These remarks came in response to a question asked by journalists in Jhelum, where the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president had arrived to inaugurate a pathology laboratory, an OPD block and a hepatitis filter clinic at the DHQ Hospital.

Speaking to media people on Thursday, the Punjab chief minister urged the leaders of the PTI and PPP to visit Jhelum in order to learn how to set up hospitals and how governments were supposed to serve ailing humanity.

“We will show them honesty, hard work and trust,” he added. Other countries had surpassed Pakistan by following these golden principles, Mr Sharif said, adding that it was important for citizens to work hard so that Pakistan could attain a position of respect and honour in the comity of nations.

The chief minister announced he would lay the foundation stone of a new hospital in Jhelum immediately after the upcoming elections.

“The hospital will be constructed within a year at ‘Punjab speed’,” he quipped, adding that his government had completely transformed the provision of healthcare services in the province.

“Patients used to dread making trips to government-run hospitals, but now they feel satisfied with their treatment,” he said. “Perhaps the PTI and PPP should come to us to get training in public service.”

Published in Dawn, May 11th, 2018