JHANG: Completely rejecting filthy language and politics, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Saturday those mounting containers were not sincere to the country. He said this was not the way of doing serious politics. “We do not think merely about the next elections, we are rather thinking about the next 50 years.”
The prime minister performed the groundbreaking of the Shorkot-Khanewal section of the Faisalabad-Multan Motorway (M-4).
Addressing a gathering in Shorkot, which was also attended by the Chinese ambassador, he said politics was a continuous process, not a one-day or Test match, as it required sobriety and vision for being all about public service not commotion.
Nawaz termed politics of an opposition party as dirty and theatrical. “Politics is not a theatre, one-day or Test match which creates commotion just for the sake of publicity. Politicking (while sitting) on a container is never called politics. The sobriety I talk about requires a vision.”
Nawaz said politicians could not serve the nation by staging sit-ins because the container politics had failed and rejected by the people.
“It teaches (you) to think before you speak,” the prime minister remarked, adding that he always remained extra careful in selection of words contrary to an opposition party that used derogatory language.
“It also used improper words during its electioneering in the Azad Kashmir elections but the people showed maturity and outrightly rejected this dirty politics,” he added.
The prime minister said they (PTI) were not getting any support for their much-trumpeted movement because the people only needed politics for progress, prosperity and alleviation of poverty and illiteracy. Nawaz said with the public support and mandate, the PML-N government would continue launching development projects across the country.
He said the previous governments failed to expand the Peshawar-Islamabad-Lahore motorways, developed by his government. “Why these (motorways) were not expanded. Why only we are taking it forward. Why no one else thought about the road infrastructure. Rather the country was dragged into darkness what to talk of road construction,” he said referring to the energy crisis.
Nawaz said contrary to the notions of bankruptcy and being a failed state, Pakistan’s economy had taken a turnaround with record high foreign exchange reserves and established currency value. Even international institutions and reputed international newspapers and magazines were also acknowledging this positive trend, he added.
He also talked about the power shortages and said loadshedding was at its peak three years ago, adding that the way work was being carried out to overcome loadshedding had been visible to everyone. There would be no power outages in the country by 2018, he noted.
Nawaz further said the time when the governments worked under different kinds of pressure had gone.
He said the motorway and the GT Road would also be linked to facilitate the people and for easy transportation of agricultural produce. “This is our vision. No one else had such a vision. This is for you, for the people of Pakistan. This did not start from here but from the Chinese border,” he said.
He directed the NHA to provide the Bahawalpur city a link to the motorway.
Earlier, NHA Chairman, Shahid Ashraf Tarar, briefed the premier on the project. He said the four-lane 65-km-long Shorkot-Khanewal section would be completed within 20 months at a cost of Rs22 billion, adding that it would mark the completion of 240-km-long M-4 (Faisalabad-Multan Motorway).
The road link would provide a shorter and direct connection between the southern port cities of Karachi and Gwadar with the north of the country.
Besides boosting trade, the motorway would reduce transportation cost and time from the textile hub Faisalabad in central Punjab to Multan, a major trade centre of southern Punjab. The project will improve the country’s vital north-south road network and promote economic growth, create jobs and ensure regional connectivity.
The NHA chief said the Shorkot-Khanewal section was divided into two packages – Shorkot-Dinpur (31-km) and Dinpur-Khanewal (34-km) – to ensure its timely completion. It will comprise four interchanges at Dinpur, Makhdoompur, Kabirwala and Khanewal, besides 16 bridges and 112 underpasses.
It is important to note that the M-4 is divided into four sections, out of which Faisalabad-Gojra and Khanewal-Multan have already been completed. With the work in progress on the Gojra-Shorkot section, the prime minister on Saturday performed the groundbreaking of the fourth.
Later, the prime minister visited the residence of his chief security officer Chaudhry Abdul Shakoor in the Shorkot Cantonment, where he had lunch. Punjab Governor Rafique Rajwana, Information Minister Pervaiz Rasheed, local parliamentarians and others also accompanied him.
