KARACHI: In a latest attack on the performance of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf regarding Karachi development projects, the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz on Sunday described recent claims made by PTI leaders as a ‘bundle of lies’ and an attempt to deceive the people of the metropolis.

The party vowed to expose every move of Prime Minister Imran Khan for ‘taking credit’ of the schemes which had actually been launched by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in his tenure.

Addressing a press conference at the party office called Muslim League House, PML-N leader and former Sindh governor Muhammad Zubair criticised the PTI government on the eve of groundbreaking of Karachi Circular Railway and the upcoming launch of the Green Line bus service and said that these projects were in fact results of Nawaz Sharif’s ‘vision’ for Karachi and its people.

“When we left the government [in 2018] 80 per cent infrastructure of Green Line was already completed,” claimed Mr Zubair, who is also the spokesman for Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz.

“What they [the PTI government] have done in the last three years? Let me tell you. They have brought only 40 buses. The KCR is already part of the CPEC [China-Pakistan Economic Corridor] which was signed by the PML-N government. What are they celebrating for? They are only placing the nameplate of the PTI government on projects actually launched by the PML-N government.”

PML-N’s Zubair says 80pc of Green Line infrastructure was already completed in 2018

He recalled the number of projects which were approved, launched and received go-ahead for Karachi under the federal government’s funding when Nawaz Sharif was the prime minister.

“We completed the 660 megawatt power supply project at Port Qasim,” he said. “Then we brought another 1,100 megawatt in the system. The development of industrial zones and revamping of existing industrial estates was made part of the federal budget [in PML-N government.] Then, the huge K-IV water supply project was launched. It was approved for funding and development when Nawaz Sharif was prime minister.”

The most important and credible achievement of the PML-N government was restoration of peace to the port city, said Mr Zubair and added that the challenges which Nawaz Sharif faced while assuming power in 2013 were huge and gigantic.

“We all know that the PTI’s top agenda was to create 10 million jobs and build five million houses in the country,” he said. “But do we see anything movement in this direction? These promises are yet to be fulfilled despite three years of this regime. The state institutions are reporting that joblessness is increasing and more people are now going below the poverty line.”

Accompanied by party leaders Nasiruddin Mahmood and Khawaja Tariq Nazeer, he said that the PTI government was bringing more crises than solutions to the problems facing the country, claiming that the economy was on the verge of collapse.

He criticised the PTI government for what he called ignoring its promises made in the party’s election manifesto of creating new jobs, constructing housing units for the poor, increasing the budget for education and reducing miseries of poor people.

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2021