LAHORE: PML-N President Nawaz Sharif accused the PPP government on Friday of indulging in corruption and blamed it for the economic crisis faced by the country. According to him, PPP’s coalition partners were equally responsible for the country’s problems.
“The PPP’s coalition government is responsible for inflation, loadshedding, halting the wheel of industrial development and pushing people towards a crisis-like situation,” Mr Sharif said at a ceremony held at the Punjab University for distribution of laptop computers among students.
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, who was scheduled to distribute the laptops, did not turn up. The ceremony was attended by senior PML-N leaders and over 20,000 students.
Mr Sharif said his party quit the coalition government after President Asif Ali Zardari did not meet his commitments.
He said the PML-N was the only party which was serving the masses and praised Shahbaz Sharif for working tirelessly for the people of Punjab.
“The youth should support the PML-N and join hands with it. The party will end inflation and loadshedding and make Pakistan a prosperous country.”
Mr Sharif said the PPP and its coalition partners would be answerable to the masses in the next general election, adding that the PML-N would form a government with the support of the youth and give laptop computers to every deserving student across the country.
He criticised Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf chief Imran Khan and said he was raising hollow slogans. He said the PML-N had a track record of bringing about real changes. It built the motorway and highways and made the country a nuclear power. “The Punjab government is now developing a revolutionary transport system in the country.”
Describing loadshedding as a major problem, Mr Sharif said that when he was in power the country was studying the possibility of exporting electricity to India.
He lashed out at military dictatorship and said when the PML-N government was putting the country on the path of progress, it was overthrown and martial law was imposed which resulted in suicide bombings, deadly attacks on police and security forces and killing of innocent citizens on roads, creating a sense of insecurity among citizens.
He accused dictatorships and martial laws of dividing the nation into Bangalis, Punjabis, Sindhis, Balochis and Pakhtuns. Only democracy, he said, could keep the country and its people united.
Referring to a debate conducted by the BBC in India on its 50th independence anniversary, Mr Sharif said that all former prime ministers were unanimous that India’s biggest achievement was to uphold the sanctity of the ballot box. “If a change comes through votes in Pakistan, success of any party will be Pakistan’s success,” he said.
Mr Sharif said Pakistan would emerge as a revolutionary nation if the government invested heavily in the education sector. If the PML-N was voted to power, he said, it would stem the deterioration and make Pakistan a strong country.
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