CM flays Imran for making false promises

LAHORE:Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz Sharif has said that the province was witnessing constitutional ups and downs for the last three months.

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, he said he was accountable to the people of the province and he was well aware of his responsibilities. Provincial ministers Sardar Owais Leghari, Malik Mohammad Ahmad Khan and Ata Tarar were also present on the occasion.

Criticising Imran Khan, Hamza Shehbaz said that Imran Niazi said that Pakistan, which was a nuclear power, will be destroyed and the army will disintegrate. He said did Imran Niazi fulfill any of his promises he made with the nation?

“The nation has two paths, one of which is the path of truth and the other of anarchy and conspiracy,” Hamza said adding the state was our mother and she should be loved but Imran Niazi was spreading poison against the institutions for the past many months.

Imran Niazi announced to give 5 million houses to the workers and 10 million jobs but these promises were not fulfilled. The nation was lined up to get one kg sugar, with flour and ghee, Hamza said.

Hamza claimed that the Chief Ministers of Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa along with the police fired in the air at the police in Punjab and kept going with bulldozers and cranes. He taunted that out of 2.5 million announced participants of the long march, 2.490 million were less. He said Imran Khan announced that he will start a sit-in till the date of elections will be announced but he went back to Bani Gala only in one night.

Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz said that he spent 22 months in jail but nothing has proved against him. He further said that his father Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was a cancer patient and he could not take care of him because he was in jail.

He said that Pervaiz Elahi had ordered that the Chief Secretary and IG Punjab should be brought to the assembly then the budget of 120 million people would be decided. “I looked at the situation and thought of the deadly attack on the Deputy Speaker, how a custodian sitting there was congratulating him when his thugs were attacking the Deputy Speaker. Then the nation saw that the broken arm was the same,” he said adding Pervaiz Elahi shamelessly said that the constable was not a martyr.

He said due to the situation we decided not to present the Chief Secretary and the IG in the assembly. He said the session was called four times, on which crores of rupees were spent but it was dismissed at the personal will of Pervaiz Elahi.

He said Allah Almighty has chosen him for this position and he was the only Chief Minister in Punjab who worked without his cabinet. “In a few weeks time the government procured 5 million tons of wheat and farmers were given their due payments at the rate of Rs2,200 per quintal whereas in the international market the price has exceeded Rs5,000,” Hamza maintained.

He said the Punjab government was giving a subsidy of Rs200 billion to the people for getting cheap flour. He said at present people were starving in their homes due to poverty and their children were begging for bread. It was the duty of the government to fulfill the needs of its people, he said.

Talking about expansion of cabinet, Hamza said it could not be done yet. He said the government waited 48 hours and then the budget session was held in Aiwan-e-Iqbal. Pervaiz Elahi wanted to satisfy his ego by calling the Chief Secretary and IG Police in the assembly. Hamza Shehbaz said that he was happy that the budget has been presented. The basic salary has been increased by 30% and the pension has been increased by 5%.