Servant, liar Niazi, or looter Zardari: Make a choice, Shahbaz asks people

MALAKWAL/LAHORE: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Thursday asked the people whether they wanted those serving them or the liar [Imran Khan] Niazi or the plunderer [Asif Ali] Zardari.

“As the 2018 elections are nearing, the people will have to decide carefully that if they need a political leadership that served them or they need Niazi Sahib who speaks lies and Zardari Sahib who is involved in plunder.”

Addressing a public meeting at the Railway Ground, Shahbaz blasted former president Asif Ali Zardari and Imran, describing the former as corrupt plunderer and the latter as a liar and habitual blamer.

He said Imran lied day and night, levelled baseless allegations, staged sit-ins and lockdowns, and launched agitation. “On the other side, we served the people day and night and removed the darkness of loadshedding,” he noted.

The chief minister said Imran accused him of receiving Rs10 billion as bribe from Javed Sadiq and offering Rs10 billion in the Panama Papers case. Shahbaz said he filed a case but Imran continued delaying the process instead of appearing in the court. He sometime alleged that somebody did a corruption of Rs 300 billion, he added.

“I request the Chief Justice of Lahore High Court to constitute a bench to decide about the allegations levelled against me in a few days. If I have given bribe or accepted it, then I shall go home and if Niazi Sahib has spoken a lie then he should retire from politics. Now the people should decide that whether they need a deceitful and hypocrite leader who is involved in the politics of allegations,” said the chief minister.

He questioned whether a person involved in agitation, lockdowns, sit-ins, and politics of falsehood, hypocrisy and allegations had the right to represent Pakistan. He said Zardari claimed that he had come to take the stock of the Sharif family’s corruption. “First you should give details of your corruption that how you have looted the natural resources with both hands. A former PPP leader lives in this area that has done corruption of billions of rupees in the EOBI scandal. He had full backing of Zardari Sahib but now this man has joined the PTI,” said Shahbaz.

Taking a jibe at Zardari, the chief minister questioned why no projects were initiated during the PPP government given that Zardari claimed he had signed [the agreement for] CPEC. He reminded the gathering that Zardari during his tenure did not produce even a single megawatt of electricity, but the PML-N government had overcome the energy crisis and ensured uninterrupted power supply to the people. The chief minister also asked the people to reject the PPP, PTI and JI again in the 2018 elections.

He said the Punjab government had spread a network of carpeted roads across the province to connect the remote villages with towns and cities. If given a chance by the people to serve as Khadim-e-Pakistan [prime minister], he would deliver in the other provinces too and recover the national wealth from the looters, the chief minister said.

During his address, Shahbaz announced to upgrade the Rasool College of Technology as university and construction of dual road from Dinga to Mandi Bahauddin. Earlier, Shahbaz inaugurated different development projects including a bridge on Jhelum River near Malakwal, THQ Model Hospital Malakwal, degree colleges for girls and boys in Rukkan, and drinking water and sewerage system in Malakwal city.