MADINA: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Friday that the government was committed to working for economic stability, ending loadshedding of electricity and eliminating terrorism from the country.

Addressing a gathering of Pakistanis here, the prime minister reiterated government’s resolve to eliminate extremism and terrorism from the country. He said supporters of terrorism would not be spared and law of the land would prevail. He said the Zarb-i-Azb military operation was going on successfully and would continue till the elimination of the last terrorist.

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In this regard he also mentioned the national consensus and commitment of political parties to amend the Army Act.

The prime minister said his government was improving governance and ensuring transparency in all affairs and he pointed out that it was endorsed by the Transparency International.

He said when his government came into power foreign exchange reserves were less than $8 billion, whereas in 20 months they have risen to $16 billion, while the State Bank reserves have gone up to $11 billion dollars.

He said his government was working on short- and long-term projects to end loadshedding and an additional 10,000 MW of electricity would be added to the national grid by the end of 2017. Mr Sharif said loadshedding would end in three years. Long-term measures included work on Bunji, Bhasha and Diamir dams that would generate around 16,000MW and help meet future needs of the country, he added.

The prime minister informed the Pakistani community about the Karachi-Lahore motorway project and said land was being acquired for the project that would usher in an era of prosperity.

He said the Lahore-Islamabad Motorway was also being reconstructed and would have new and better fencing, service areas, trees and other modern facilities.

He dismissed the allegations of rigging in the 2013 general election. The PML-N was not the part of caretaker governments in centre and provinces which held the elections and accusing it for any wrongdoing was not justified, he added.

The prime minister appreciated the role of overseas Pakistanis for bringing good name to the country with their hard work and their contribution in national economy.

Mr Sharif said Pakistan had good ties with Afghanistan and he mentioned his government’s cordial ties with the government of President Ashraf Ghani.

Published in Dawn March 7th , 2015

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