Adam Khan Wazir / Agencies
DERA ISMAIL KHAN : Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Monday Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan brought disrespect to the country by selling out the precious gifts given by foreign leaders.
Addressing a ceremony in Dera Ismail Khan, he said the leaders gave these precious gifts as a sign of fraternal ties with the people of Pakistan but the former ruler sold them out in open market. “Due to faulty policies of the PTI government, the friendly nations including China were dismayed,” the PM regretted.
The prime minister said that despite myriad economic challenges including the post-flood situation, the coalition government was determined to steer the country out of the current difficulties. He said the coalition government was determined to steer the country out of the issues.
He also laid foundation stones of communication, road, hydel and power infrastructure projects. He said: “These challenges might be manifold but 220 million people of the country should not get worried as the coalition government with the support of its partners will steer the country out of the challenges.”
The PM sarcastically referred that the PTI provincial government always talked about introduction of an efficient system, but the people had witnessed the crumbling of that system whereas the government’s blunders in this regard could not be neglected.
The prime minister said that construction of Hakla-Yarak motorway which had hugely reduced the travel time from Islamabad to DIKhan had been conceived and implemented by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
He said the whole country had been connected with a network of motorways and Nawaz Sharif solely deserved credit for the launch of such mega projects, adding that he had laid foundation stone of the last segment of Sukkur-Hyderabad motorway section recently.
The prime minister reiterated that dream of Nawaz Sharif for the prosperous Pakistan would be fulfilled.
He regretted that during the past PTI’s government, all these uplift projects, initiated during PML-n government, were brought to grinding halt.
Citing the Hakla-DIKhan motorway, the prime minister said it was part of CPEC conceived during 2017, but the PTI government put these projects into cold storage, thus affecting the development and progress of the country.
Maulana Fazal further said the policies of the previous government of PTI had brought the country to the brink of disaster.
Huge development projects were launched by the PML-N government, overseas Pakistanis started sending remittances, and the global partners were investing in Pakistan, but unfortunately all these hit
The JUI-F amir said that attempts were made to create upheaval in the country with economic uncertainty, but these would be foiled.
He said they would have to make efforts for regaining the erstwhile prestige among the comity of nations.
Maulana Lutfur Rehman, MPA, said that JUI-F had always strived for the solidarity of the country and strongly resisted and condemned any attempts to create chaos in the society.
While enroute to DIKhan, the prime minister also took an aerial view of the area and was briefed about the development projects.