Nawaz Sharif waves to the crowd at a rally in Mingora. PHOTO: ONLINE
MINGORA: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif once again berated Imran Khan on Friday for resorting to the politics of protests and sit-ins rather than focusing on the development of the country.
“Some people keep saying they will take to the streets [against the government],” he said while addressing a political rally in Saidu Sharif as part of his public-outreach campaign in the wake of the Panama leaks.
“Everyone has their own destiny. Some build roads, others take to them,” the premier chided Imran over his constant threats to stage sit-ins.
He believed the people of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) had fallen into a trap of false promises for change in the 2013 general elections. “The dilapidated roads, hospitals and schools expose the PTI’s performance and its slogan of change,” he said.
PM Nawaz pledged to bring “real change” in K-P and announced a special grant of Rs200 million each for the district governments of Swat and Shangla.
Announcing a number of projects for the region, he added plans were afoot to get rid of power outages in Swat by setting up two grid stations at Matta and Kabal Tehsil at a cost of Rs300 million.
A women’s university, a technical college for boys, renovation of the Saidu Sharif airport and construction of 133-kilometre-long Swat Expressway were also announced.
Again taking a swipe at the K-P government, the premier said the provincial authorities had nothing to do with the youth as it had been neglecting sports. He added the federal government had special interest in sports and announced providing Astroturf for the Swat Hockey Ground to facilitate youth.
Referring to Imran, the PM said the “crusader of change” has made a mockery of the local governments in K-P by denying them access to developmental funds. “All the districts in the province are demanding funds to initiate development projects but the K-P government has turned a deaf ear to them,” he said.
PM’s adviser Amir Muqam, MNA Dr Ebadullah and Swat Nazim Muhammad Ali Shah also addressed the rally and thanked the premier for announcing projects worth billions of rupees for the development of Swat.
Earlier, the PM also inaugurated the recently constructed Nawaz Sharif Kidney Hospital at Sangota.
He ordered the management to buy another 14 dialysis machines to cope with the increasing demand and also directed the authorities to lay a separate power transmission line to ensure uninterrupted power at the state-of-the-art health facility.
The 110-bed hospital on Swat-Kalam Road has been built for the people of six districts of Malakand Division at a cost of Rs 800million by the Punjab Hospital Trust. Apart from an OPD, the hospital has two operation theatres, and separate male and female wards.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 21st, 2016.
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