PM says PML-N proved doomsayers wrong

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi says the ruling party accepted Supreme Court's July 28 verdict in letter and spirit

HYDERABAD: Tacitly putting responsibility for diverging from the Charter of Democracy (CoD) on the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Saturday drew the attention of the PPP leadership to the agreement's indispensability.

Addressing a public meeting, organised by Federal Minister Ghulam Murtaza Jatoi, in Nawan Jatoi village in Naushehro Feroze district of Sindh province, the PM recalled the salient features of the charter and lamented a lack of implementation on it.

"Unfortunately, it [the charter] doesn't exist today," he observed, saying that when PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif signed CoD in 2006, they had agreed to avoid bitterness in politics.

"The aim of the charter was to eliminate vindictiveness in politics and to give the people's representatives their rights while accepting the people's mandate," he said, stressing the need to “carry democracy forward based on these principles".



Abbasi warned that the prevailing trends in politics go against the charter and will sully the reputation of politicians besides causing harm to the public.

"I hope that the Sindh government and the PPP will pay attention to these issues and that the standards of politics will be restored to those that Sharif and Benazir had agreed upon," he said.

The PM reiterated that Pakistan could not make progress without democracy, adding that all people agreed over the fact.

Referring to the Supreme Court’s July 28 judgment against Sharif in Panamagate case, Abbasi said many political opponents and analysts were expecting a political crisis as a consequence.

"People expected utter mayhem. Newspapers wrote about how the party will split up and that the rates of National Assembly members will be fixed,” he said.

However, contrary to the bleak prognosis, the party emerged stronger and that he was elected as PM within three days of the judgment being announced.

Abbasi, however, said that the July 28 verdict “was indeed a great ordeal but it was also a victory of democracy”.



Nevertheless, he acknowledged, that the judgment was a big trial for the PML-N. He also criticised the performance of PPP's Sindh government, telling the people that financial resources were being squandered owing to corruption and that the people’s problems remained unsolved.

"The decision will be yours during the next general election. Do you want the same standard of governance or do you want development in the province," he said.

“Political decisions are not taken in courts, or on streets. Neither they should be. This is a democracy,” he remarked urging the people to compare the ongoing five-year tenure of the PML-N and the one completed by the PPP earlier.

Abbasi announced Rs2.5 billion as a development package for Naushehro Feroze district, including Rs1.5 billion to be spent on the provision of gas and electricity. The rest of the money would be spent on developing infrastructure, roads in particular.

He said the centre had increased the financial resource allocation to Sindh by 50% since the PML-N took over in 2013. He added that royalty for gas was also tripled from Rs10 billion to Rs30 billion for Sindh.



The PM credited PML-N’s government for increasing the country's gross domestic product from 3% to 6% and for completing infrastructure projects pending for three to four decades.

Giving an example, he added that Kachhi Canal – that irrigates Dera Bugti and Jhal Magsi districts in Balochistan – was a Rs80 billion project that was completed by PML-N’s government.

He expressed hope that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would help in developing the country while strengthening economy and generating employment for the next 50 years.

The PM acknowledged the sacrifices made by the armed forces in the fight against terrorism and assured that Pakistan had been winning the war on terror, with the deployment of around 200,000 troops.

Sindh Governor Muhammad Zubair and PML-N leaders Syed Shah Muhammad Shah, Ghulam Murtaza Jatoi and Arab Ghulam Raheem, among others, were also present on the occasion.