Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif urged people on Saturday to consider facts when comparing the "poor and pathetic performance of corruption-tainted Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government" with that of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
The PML-N stalwart said that his party would accept the public mandate in the upcoming general elections. If the PML-N, under the leadership of Nawaz Sharif, is given another opportunity to serve the country, the party will restore the "real image" of Pakistan, claimed Shehbaz.
He was addressing a ceremony after the inauguration of different development projects, including a 19 kilometre-long Lahore bypass, which will link Kala Shah Kaku with the Lahore-Karachi Motorway at a cost of Rs35 billion.
The project is touted to create about 27,000 job opportunities.
The prime minister also broke ground for the expansion of the Lahore-Karachi Motorway Saggian Road and the main Ravi Bridge, which aims to ease vehicular traffic, help save fuel and create jobs opportunities.
Later, he laid the foundation stones for the Esaan (Sharaqpur) Interchange at Abdul Hakeem Motorway and the establishment of Quaid Azam University Campus and did a soft launch for the construction of a scout college.
Shehbaz termed PML-N supremo and three-time prime minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif as "a builder of Pakistan, the man behind an end to loadshedding, the launch of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects, and a builder of a vast network of roads, who put the country on the path of rapid progress".
According to him, Nawaz aspires to transform the country into 'an Asian tiger'.
Shehbaz regretted that Nawaz's rule ended in 2018 through "a huge conspiracy hatched against Pakistan".
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If the PML-N was in government instead of the PTI's four years in power, the country would have had a different destiny, said Shehbaz.
He claimed that between 2013 to 2018, while the PML-N government was in power, Pakistan was making progress by leaps and bounds. "But afterwards, during the PTI government, the country was pushed into chaos," he said.
All opposition leaders were sent to jails on the basis of fake cases, false allegations of thefts and corruption were levelled and even sisters and daughters were sent behind bars during the PTI’s rule, said Shehbaz.
“The development pace spurred by the PML-N government was halted,” he regretted.
The PML-N leader also questioned deposed prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan's claims of returning back $300 billion that was stashed outside Pakistan within ninety days. According to Shehbaz, the PTI government did not recover a single penny in the four years it was in government.
Referring to a recovery scandal of Rs50b, he said that the United Kingdom's National Crime Agency (NCA) had investigated the issue and after an out-of-court settlement with the other party, decided to return the amount to the government exchequer but it did not go to the State Bank of Pakistan. Instead it went to the Supreme Court where Imran's government became a party, said Shehbaz.
A closed envelope was presented before the cabinet in this regard, he said, adding that no discussion was held with the cabinet members nor were they shown the envelope's contents.
“It was a huge crime as to how the national exchequer was plundered,” he said, adding that BRT Peshawar, Toshakhana, Malam Jabba and sugar scams etc. were among other major corruption cases of the PTI.
Shehbaz said that the UK crime agency had also carried out an investigation against him for two years over false allegations at the request of PTI government, but later gave him a clean chit.
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