Sharif to the youth: ‘You want real change? Look up our record’

Nawaz and Shahbaz bring up corruption allegations in Pakistan Day speeches.

LAHORE:

Nawaz Sharif said on Friday his PML-N will win the next election and solve all the problems the nation faces today.

Sharif was speaking at Punjab University at a laptop distribution ceremony.

President Zardari, his government and coalition partners were equally responsible for the corruption and problems the country was facing, said Nawaz Sharif. He said four years ago Zardari had “forced” his party to form coalition governments at the centre and in the Punjab. Sharif said when his party realised that Zardari was not going to mend his corrupt ways it immediately stopped supporting him and left the coalition.

He said dictatorship had been nurtured and promoted in the country for long. This had not only divided the country but also curbed the growth of democratic culture. He said former president Pervez Musharraf had arrested judges, abrogated the Constitution and plunged the country into its darkest era.

Sharif said when Quaid-i-Azam in 1940 addressed a public gathering at Minto Park, his audience did not indentify themselves as Bengalis, Sindhis or Punjabis. But dictatorship, he said, had led the Bengalis seceding. Now the Baloch were preparing to do the same. He said that Pakistan’s cricket victory against Bangladesh left him confused as to who he should congratulate on the occasion. Sharif said that once PML-N came into power, the people will come together as one nation. Sharif asked the youth not to be confused by slogans of change. If they wanted real change, he said, they should look up PML-N’s track record. He said only PML-N could bring about the desired change and recounted initiatives taken by the Punjab government. He said PML-N had an actual vision of change.

Shahbaz Sharif

Shahbaz Sharif spoke at a ceremony of Karkuran-i-Tehreek-i-Pakistan organised by the Nazria Pakistan Trust.

He said he had been asked not to say anything harsh about Zardari but he felt compelled to mention his corruption.

He said on December 16, 1971 drunken Army generals had caused the country to break into two parts. He said Pakistan’s cricket victory against Bangladesh had reminded the people about the role of those drunken generals. He said it was unfortunate that the US drone attacks continued.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 24^th, 2012.