Nawaz tells PM to address Karachi power crisis

Says stock market crashed and rupee weakened by his disqualification

LAHORE: Former prime minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has asked Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbassi to ensure uninterrupted supply of electricity during the month of Ramazan and also instructed him to address Karachi power crisis issue.

Prime Minister of Pakistan Shahid Khaqan Abbassi came to Lahore on Sunday to meet Nawaz Sharif at his residence in Jati Umrah. The meeting was also participated by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President and Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, his son MNA Hamza Shehbaz, Maryam Nawaz and Senator Pervez Rashid.

Shahid Khaqan Abbassi briefed the former PM about the budget allocations. Senator Pervez Rashid said that PM gave a detailed briefing to Nawaz Sharif and informed him that the budget was designed according to his vision.

He said that Nawaz Sharif inquired about the power project and asked him to update him about the output of the projects.

The senator said that the PM was asked to look into the total supply against the total production of electricity and added that Nawaz asked PM to ensure that no artificial load shedding problem was created prior to conclusion of government’ tenure.

He said that Nawaz Sharif asked PM to address Karachi power crisis issue forthwith and added that PM Abbassi informed Nawaz Sharif that a cabinet meeting was being called to get necessary approvals for addressing Karachi’s power crisis issue.

It is pertinent to mention here that according to a mass contact drive schedule earlier designed by PML-N, Nawaz Sharif was to address the first of seven political gatherings at Mansehra on Sunday 29 April on the same day when PTI held a power show in Lahore and PPP held a power show in Karachi.

However, the schedule was adjusted and Mansehra’s political gathering was moved to May 6. Rasheed said that PMLN’s mass contact drive schedule was re-adjusted after Nawaz and PM left for London.

“We have to keep in mind not only parties schedule but also court’s hearings and NAB inquiries,” said Rasheed.

The senator said that the PML-N gathering in Manshera was rescheduled last week due to the London departure of Nawaz Sharif. It is important to note the schedule was given to The Express Tribune by PML-N four days back with April 29 plan intact.

“Our processions are pretty sizable,” said Rasheed and added that PTI’s procession of Lahore is not Lahore based procession as people from the entire country came for this procession. “Our processions have local crowd in large numbers, which shows up and proves our success…don’t need to get people transported from around the country”, he added.

 

PML-N high cadre

Nawaz Sharif told parliamentarians from Gujranwala and Faisalabad at the PML-N Secretariat in Model Town on Saturday that the presumption that elements supported by ‘hidden forces’ will win the upcoming elections need to be proven wrong.

The former prime minister acknowledged that Pakistan economically had the weakest currency and was trailing behind in the region. “Currencies of Sri Lanka, Nepal and even Bangladesh were stronger than Pakistani rupee,” he added.

“Once the size of the country’s economy was 1/4th of India’s economy, now it had shrunk to just 1/8,” Nawaz said as he acknowledge the failures of the incumbent government.

Nawaz Sharif claimed that his party’s government had turned the economic situation around, but then the country was hit by the decision of his disqualification.

He added that Pakistan’s currency, which had been stable for four years, was weakened in the wake of the same decision. Pakistan’s stock market index, he added, dipped from 5,300 to 3,700 within weeks after his disqualification.

With regards to the court case, the former PM said he did not know where he would be in the next 10 to 20 days. He added that his stance would stay the same no matter where he was.

Nawaz said that no elected PM in Pakistan’s history had ever been allowed to complete his tenure. “This only happens in our country… elsewhere in the region, states function by the book. Here in Pakistan, law amounts to nothing”.

He said people needed to take a stand for Pakistan’s sake. “We cannot allow Pakistan to be run in this manner,” he said.

“We continue to commit the same mistakes that led to the fall of Dhaka,” he said. “Even our broken limb is now economically more powerful than us,” he said.

He criticized the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for joining hands with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) for the Senate elections. He said PTI chief Imran Khan, who once called PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari a malignant disease, supported the same party in the Senate elections.

He said that Khan should quit politics for taking orders from the ‘high-ups’. He added that the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chief minister had inadvertently revealed while talking to the Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) that they were being ordered by those of high stature.

“People need to know specifically who are these people of high stature?” he said.

Urging his party’s activists to prepare for the upcoming elections, the deposed PM said that attempts were being made to fragment his party, but only those who had been denied ticket had abandoned it. He said his party could never retain those who had gone against the party’s decision in the National Assembly.

Appreciating Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal for “reminding judges that politicians also have self-respect”, he said that the judges repeatedly summoned Daniyal Aziz and Talal Chaudhry and mistreated them.

Speaking on the occasion, PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif solely focused on the government’s performance.

He said the PML-N government had rendered selfless services for the people under the leadership of Nawaz Sharif. The tenure of PML-N government was the best period of development and progress in the country. Development projects, he said, were being implemented at a fast pace and in a transparent manner.

Under the CPEC, the country’s largest coal-based power generation projects had been installed, he said, adding that the Sahiwal coal power plant and the Port Qasim coal power project were already generating 2,700 megawatt electricity and these projects had been completed at a fast pace.

Ahsan Iqbal, National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, former minister Khawaja Asif, provincial ministers and other PML-N leaders were also present on the occasion.