Fresh strategy: Shahbaz faults PPP for power outages

Vows the PML-N will bring an end to power pilferage.

Former provincial chief minister Shahbaz Sharif conceded on Thursday that no party could single-handedly address all the problems engulfing the country and therefore Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz was keen to work with all other parties for the nation’s prosperity.

Addressing members of his party in London on Thursday, the PML-N leader said that the current power crisis was largely owing to the lack of checks and balances during the reign of the previous government. “One of the greatest elements that have contributed to the power crisis is the theft of electricity. If the circular debt is worth Rs500 billion, out of it Rs207 billion is of electricity stolen during the last five years,” he said.

“One does not need a magic wand to find a solution for electricity theft. One needs political will and commitment,” he said, adding that the PML-N would bring an end to power pilferage. “We shall recover this huge sum and use it for some good purpose. And the production of electricity will increase,” he added.

He claimed that the country’s economy was on the verge of devastation and its revival would be the party’s top priority. He also stressed that the PML-N would make the overseas Pakistanis play an important role in achieving this goal.

He said that the Punjab Development Conference will be convened next June in which a five-year plan will be charted out.



Regarding the power crisis, he said that what else can one expect when both the thieves and guards decided to cooperate. “Had the government stopped this theft, the crisis would not have been so huge,” he explained.

He said load-shedding could have been reduced by one-third if the former government had not created hindrances in the power generation and other projects in Punjab. He added that corruption of the former rulers, mismanagement of the departments and the ineligible bureaucrats all played a part in exacerbating the power crisis.

Shahbaz accused the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf of carrying out a vilification campaign against the PML-N during the election campaign. “But, despite their efforts, the people of Pakistan used their power maturely,” he added.

“They did nothing except negative campaigning against us. They dug out everything they could against us and used it for their media campaign, but they failed as the voters from Peshawar to Karachi chose the PML-N.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 31^st, 2013.