Will never apologise for raising Punjab's voice, says CM Punjab

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz declared on Thursday that she would continue to raise her voice for the people of Punjab, emphasising that she will "never apologise" for doing so, as she highlighted the achievements of her government in the past one-and-a-half years.

Speaking at a ceremony honouring top students in Lahore, the chief minister spoke about flood relief efforts, reforms in the province's education sector, measures against harassment, and several other initiatives.

"If Maryam Nawaz does not speak about the dignity of Punjab, then who will?" she asked while addressing the ceremony. "I am the guardian of Punjab, its people's lives, and its dignity. Maryam will never apologise," she said, referring to flood relief.

Highlighting reforms, she noted that millions of children were enrolled in 50,000 schools, with laptops, Chromebooks, AI classrooms, and free travel on electric buses being introduced. She said 80,000 students were on scholarships and ghost schools had been eliminated.

She added that subject specialists were being recruited, Rs80 billion had been allocated for school facilities, and a Rs8 billion uniform scheme aimed to ease parents' burden. She further said nepotism had been rooted out, harassment cases were addressed within 24 hours, and crime had fallen in many areas.

Stressing that Punjab's resources belonged to its people, she said past governments had deprived citizens of their rights. She urged parents to educate their daughters and warned the public not to be misled by social media propaganda.

The chief minister said that Punjab had stabilised, with bread available for Rs13 compared to Rs20 in other provinces. She promised that if given five years, she would make Punjab so developed that "others would come to see it."

The statement came amid a spat between the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), which rules the Centre and Punjab, and its coalition partner, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), which governs Sindh. PPP leaders have been critical of the Punjab government's performance.

In a sharp rebuttal to PPP leader Sharmila Faruqui's recent remarks, Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari challenged her to a public debate on governance. In a counter-attack, Bokhari said it was the PPP that had failed to show any visible progress in Sindh despite 17 years in power.

Listing Punjab's initiatives, she cited 90,000 houses under the 'Apni Chhat Apna Ghar' scheme, tractors for 9,500 farmers, 27,000 electric bikes for students, free laptops, electric buses, a 1,000-bed cancer hospital, cardiology facilities, and free medicines.