Karachi operation has given good results: Nawaz

SIALKOT: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday promised to target all terrorists groups across the country, including sectarian outfits and the criminal gangs of Karachi.
Addressing the local business community at the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) and later a PML-N workers convention at the residence of Federal Minister Khawaja Asif, the prime minister said that the Karachi operation had provided positive results.
He said the government was taking serious steps to solve the issues of terrorism, sectarianism, poverty, unemployment and energy crisis on a permanent basis.
Nawaz listed terrorism as the biggest challenge faced by the country and said the government had decided to root out terrorism from the country by launching a decisive action. The armed forces, he said, had broken the backbone of the terrorists and destroyed their network and infrastructure in the ongoing Operation Zarb-e-Azb.
He said Pakistan could have been a much better place and a more developed country if his government had not been toppled by a dictator in 1999.
He said the incumbent government had considerably improved the situation on a number of fronts, adding that he had never made any false promises with the nation as he only believed in practical steps, a view reflected by a number of public welfare projects launched so far.
Nawaz lauded the role of Sialkot as a prominent industrial and exports hub and promised to take necessary measures in order to boost that status and facilitate local industrialists and exporters. On the occasion, he stressed the need for setting up a technology university to enhance economic activity.
Addressing the local business community, Nawaz said the ongoing operation in Karachi was against criminals and not any political party, adding that the gun culture would be eliminated from the port city.
He vowed to take the operation to its logical conclusion, saying the government was committed to make Karachi peaceful so that investors could utilise the existing excellent infrastructure there.
Nawaz said the incidents of kidnapping for ransom, targeted killings and other heinous crimes had already declined and hoped that life in the city would soon return to normality, making it a haven for industrialists and investors from across the world.
He said the PML N government was not doing any favours by conducting the operation rather it was a national obligation, adding that it was the responsibility of the government to make Karachi and the entire country peaceful.
During his speech, the prime minister announced the construction of the Sialkot-Lahore Expressway that would reduce travel time to around an hour.
He said the government was planning to generate 3,600 MW of electricity through LNG (liquefied natural gas), buy 4,000 MW from China and add another 10,000 MW by the end of 2017.
On the economic performance of the government, Nawaz said the economy was turning around as a result of effective and prudent policies.
The prime minister said the government wanted to reduce the electricity tariff for which cheaper sources of energy, including coal and LNG, were being exploited.