Off target: This is not Quaid’s Pakistan, says Shahbaz

Chief minister calls for unity to overcome crises in the country

LAHORE: “Today, we are celebrating Independence Day at a time when the nation is grieved over the carnage in Quetta. Our prayers and thoughts are with the bereaved families,” Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said on Sunday.

“Hundreds of thousands of people laid down their lives to achieve Pakistan... we owe it to them to build a Pakistan of Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Allama Muhammad Iqbal’s vision,” the chief minister said at a function held at Hazoori Bagh in connection with Independence Day.

He said Muslims in the subcontinent had displayed great unity and solidarity to achieve a separate land. “Today, the unity is being challenged. Some people want to impose their beliefs upon others. This is not the spirit of the Pakistan of Jinnah and Iqbal.” He said there was need for leadership to rid the nation of corruption, ignorance and poverty. “Today Pakistan is not the way Jinnah and Iqbal had wanted it to be” Sharif said. The chief minister said, however, that people should unite to steer the country out of the crises. He said Pakistan had been created to uphold honesty and hard work and to eliminate corruption and nepotism.

Sharif said some of the nation’s politicians, judges, generals, prominent traders and the elite had focussed on luxuries of life and not remembered the objective of serving the country. He said the country had also suffered a lot owing to four martial laws. He said political governments, too, had been unable to efficiently fulfil their responsibilities. The chief minister said that instead of levelling allegations against one another, political leaders should give accountability a chance. “We should move forward in light of lessons learnt from past mistakes. Only then will Pakistan be able to achieve its lost status in the comity of nations.” Sharif said strenuous efforts were being made to bring about prosperity in Pakistan. He said that previously little had been done practically to end terrorism and extremism. This had resulted in poverty and unemployment, he said. “Real freedom cannot be achieved until we break the begging bowl,” he said. He said some of those talking of accountability had themselves been involved in corruption. “Those shouting accountability are surrounded by people who have had bank loans written off and illegally grabbed land.”

Published in The Express Tribune, August 15^th, 2016.