LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Monday called for following the approach of “our Pakistan” to make the country great, adding, “It’s not yours or mine, it is our Pakistan.” “We will have to move forward like a team by learningfrom the past mistakes. The political battles should be fought in elections. The pains of the ailing humanity should not be worsened and poverty of the poor not be increased,” said the chief minister.
Shahbaz was addressing a ceremony as he inaugurated the first phase of Pakistan Kidney and Liver Transplant Institute (PKLI). He said, “This objective cannot be achieved through sit-ins, lockdown, allegations and obstructing the development projects. Peace cannot be restored through sit-ins as sit-in has ruined the economy and now it is the time to get rid of this sit-in.”
Shahbaz said, “The nation is celebrating the birth anniversary of the founder of the nation. This day is celebrated for the last 70 years. Every year ceremonies are held, floral-wreaths are laid at the mausoleums of Iqbal and Jinnah but this year it is a unique moment that the Punjab government has given the gift of a hospital according to the vision of Quaid-e-Azam. The first phase of this hospital has been operationalised. Poor patients will be treated totally free of cost, while the rich will have to pay, and this was the vision of Quaid.”
PKLI – the largest and most modern in South Asia and being constructed at a cost of Rs20 billion – will provide free treatment facilities to the deserving patients with modern diagnostic and treatment facilities. The chief minister inspected the OPD, dialysis centre and other departments after the inauguration.
“The Punjab government has written a new history by setting up this institution with its own resources, which will bridge the gap between the poor and rich,” said Shahbaz. "The government has inaugurated the project on the birthday of Quaid-e-Azam, which depicts the approach of the Quaid. Quaid-e-Azam was of the view that all the people will be equal in Pakistan and everybody will have equal opportunities but the country in which we are living today cannot be called the Pakistan of Quaid and Iqbal,” he noted.
Narrating his personal story, Shahbaz said he received treatment for cancer in the US after being diagnosed in 2003. “I spent a lot of money on this treatment but I think that if any poor person from any far-flung area had got this fatal disease, then from where he would have arranged Rs5 to Rs6 million.”
“Such a Pakistan cannot be called a country of the Quaid and Iqbal and we are required to bridge this gap between the poor and rich. If it is not done, then the soft revolution will be turned into bloody, which will be unstoppable, affecting everything,” warned the chief minister.
“The time has come that all the segments of life should reach upon a new social contract based on socio-economic justice,” he stressed. He noted that terrorism and fanaticism had affected daily life and thousands of Pakistanis gave their lives in the fight against terrorism.
The chief minister said in addition to CPEC, the federal and Punjab governments had completed energy projects from their own resources, for which credit went to the four-year tenure of Nawaz Sharif. Shahbaz, who was very happy on the occasion, announced to give a bonus in the shape of additional pay to labourers and said the department heads working on the project would be given awards and medals at a ceremony.
