Imran aims to destroy economy by holding sit-ins: Pervaiz

Says govt wants to purge country of corruption;
Musharraf’s policies introduced terrorism, drone attacks

MUZAFFARABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Pervaiz Rashid on Sunday said that the government wanted to cleanse the country of corruption while the proponents of sit-ins were destabilising the country.

He said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan wanted to destroy the economy by inciting the people to take part in sit-ins.Talking to the media here, Pervaiz Rashid said Imran conspired against the democratic government in the very first year of its tenure by staging a sit-in in Islamabad.

“We want to bring happiness and prosperity to the country but Imran Khan only wants to spread anarchy,” he added. He said the people who were against the development of the country would not succeed in their intentions. Pervaiz said the country’s image had improved due to the untiring efforts of the government.

APP adds: Pervaiz Rashid said that a corruption-free and modern Pakistan was the vision of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and establishment of a modern passport office in Hattian Bala was a manifestation of the fact.

The minister said after Pakistan became a nuclear state under Nawaz Sharif’s leadership, the respect for the green passport in the eyes of the world had increased in 1998 but the steps of Pervez Musharraf earned a bad name for Pakistani passport holders and gave the nation terrorism and drone attacks due to his policies.

Pervaiz said the election in Azad Jammu and Kashmir was a contest between those who were building networks of roads and those coming on the roads.

He said Nawaz Sharif believes that protest marches should not come on the roads rather trucks loaded with AJK fruits should come on the roads. He said that after construction of modern roads, fruits from AJK would not only be sold in Pakistani markets but also would be exported.

The minister said that some people have been trying to copy Nawaz Sharif but they do not know that Nawaz is a visionary leader, the quality they lacked. He said that a political leader recently inaugurated a power plant in Swat by lighting a zero watt bulb and started clapping himself but he forgot that the PML-N government in the Centre had started work on power projects which would generate over 10,000MW additional electricity by 2018. He said that presently there was about 5,000 MW electricity shortfall in the country and by 2018 Pakistan will have about 5,000MW additional power.

Pervaiz claimed that by 2018 Pakistan will become a country which will be generating surplus and cheaper electricity in the country. The minister said after overcoming the power crisis, not only domestic consumers will get rid of loadshedding and gas shortage but factories will also get enough power to run at full capacity. He said the PML-N government in AJK was necessary as the present PPP government had failed to spend Rs300 billion given to it by the Centre for the welfare of the state.

He said that AJK has 10 districts and for every district Rs30 billion have been released by the federal government but no development projects have been launched in any of the AJK districts. He said it was the right of the people of AJK to ask questions about Rs30 billion development funds.Earlier, he along with Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Political Affairs Dr Asif Kirmani inaugurated a new passport office in Hattian Bala.