Nawaz vows to empower Islamabad's first-ever mayor

A day after the ruling party’s candidate was elected as the first-ever mayor of Islamabad, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vowed to empower the local government of the federal capital in the interest of the common citizens.

“I am very happy at the party’s victory in the local body elections. We have a lot of expectations from the newly elected local government officials and we hope that they will address the issues of the common people,” the premier told Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) workers in Bahawalpur on Tuesday.



The prime minister also took aim at previous governments for worsening the country’s severe electricity crisis. “Had the previous governments paid attention the issues of the masses, the country would not have reached its current state,” he said.

The premier also questioned the implementation of a seven-point agenda propagated by the regime of former military dictator General (retd) Pervez Musharraf. “What happened to the seven-point agenda of the Musharraf and the subsequent takeover by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) regime,” Nawaz questioned.

“The previous regime of the PPP was not any different to that of Musharraf ... otherwise they would have addressed the issues of the country,” he said, adding not solving the country's energy crisis amounted to criminal negligence.

Nawaz further claimed that he never lied to the people of Pakistan despite being advised to do so in tough times.

“Running a government is not a bed of roses. The powers of the prime minister are not the same as they were in the 1990s but we have to find a way to address all the issues. I never lied to the people as I do not believe in the politics of lies,” he said.

“I never told the people that it would only take a year to resolve the energy crisis. I always maintained that it would take at least five years to resolve it,” PM Nawaz added.



Nawaz went on to say the country stopped progressing whenever his party’s government was undemocratically disbanded.

“People voted for a civilian government, but our government was removed by those who stopped Pakistan from progressing. Had any democratic government been allowed to consistently work, Pakistan would have been among the progressed nations,” he said.