GUJRAT: PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif on Saturday vowed to bring the country back on the track of economic growth after coming into power as his government did in its last term from 2013 to 2018.

He promised the people to rid the country of poverty and unemployment, subject to his win in the election.

Addressing a big public meeting at the Gujranwala Cricket Stadium, the former prime minister said when Pakistan said goodbye to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2016 during the PML-N reign, the IMF team had said if Pakistan continued to progress at the same pace, it would never need any further loans.

He said his party’s government had brought the foreign investment of $60 billion in the form of projects of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), established the power generating factories and constructed motorways.

“Had I not been thrown out of the government by the judge who had recently resigned from the Supreme Court, there would have not been a single unemployed person in the country,” the former PM said.

He reminded his supporters that during his last tenure, a mini-car was available at the price between Rs0.5 to one million, a 70CC motorbike was sold at the price of Rs70,000 while a tractor could be bought at Rs800,000, which was now being sold at Rs3.8m. He said it was difficult to even pay the electricity bills now.

Addressing the rally, PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif said there was a significant decline in corruption in the country during the last Nawaz government.

Referring to the statistics from the Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, he said, Nawaz improved Pakistan’s rankings from 141 to 117 whereas in the four-year tenure of the man (Imran Khan) who would always call his rivals thieves, the country’s ranking in corruption index again reach 140, he added.

Shehbaz said his government had spent around Rs100bn on development projects but the corruption was reduced in his tenure of 16 months whereas his government had successfully avoided the default.

“But I ask you all, has he [Imran Khan] built any houses in his four years in power?

“When Nawaz was in power, infrastructure projects spanned across Pakistan, including roads and dams, and the youth were provided with laptops,” he asserted, adding that if given the opportunity to be in power again, he would reinitiate those schemes.

Maryam said said the PML-N would again clinch the all 20 seats of Gujranwala district as it had done in 2018 polls.

Published in Dawn, February 4th, 2024