ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information, Broadcasting, National Heritage and Culture Attaullah Tarar said on Saturday that under the leadership of Nawaz Sharif, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had always done the politics of services to the masses and provided them maximum facilities.
Nawaz Sharif, during his first term as prime minister, initiated mega development projects including South Asia’s first motorways network in the country, he said while addressing a press conference.
He said it was Nawaz Sharif who took steps for ease of business, initiated power generation projects and provided facilities to investors.
Tarar said that Punjab government had taken a good step by providing subsidy to electricity consumers, the official news agency reported.
“Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz has given a big relief to consumers in Punjab in terms of electricity,” Tarar said, adding it was an historic and unprecedented step which would cost Rs45 billion.
He said a former caretaker minister who was also making hue and cry over the power tariff, now should come forward and laud the Punjab government’s initiative.
He said that in 2018 when the tenure of the PML-N government ended, inflation was only 4 percent and GDP growth rate was over 6 percent.
Tarar said that on Friday, Nawaz Sharif rightly said that the people were hit by inflation and sky rocketing prices of daily use items during the era when the £190 million scam emerged, when Toshakhana and cipher cases emerged and Punjab was at the mercy of Farah Gogi and bad governance was at its worst.
He said during that time inflation reached 23 percent and the present regime with its hard work has brought it down to 11 percent and there were projections of further decrease.
The government has reduced the price of petroleum products as a gift to the nation on the occasion of Independence Day when it was celebrating the victory of Arshad Nadeem in the Paris Olympics.
Earlier, he said, the PM had given Rs50 billion relief to electricity consumers of up to 200 units for three months. He said that the package announced by the Punjab chief minister would provide a relief of Rs14 per unit to consumers using up to 500 units per month.
He expressed the hope that with the steps taken by the federal and Punjab governments, the masses would get considerable relief and situation would further improve in the near future.
Pakistan Army has its own mechanism of self-accountability and recent arrests were done after transparent investigations, the information minister said.
He lamented that a political leader had fostered the politics of chaos, anarchy and division in the country and he in collusion with Faiz Hameed conspired to spread unrest in the country and worked against the integrity of the country.
Tarar asked who brought back terrorists in the country. The founding chairman of the PTI had said that the Taliban should come back, Tarar said. “All these people were involved in the efforts of the PTI founder to spread chaos and anarchy in the country as the PTI’s founder chairman did politics of manipulation by nexus.”
He said that those who harmed the peace of the country will meet their fate. He said Imran Khan was the mastermind of the plot against the solidarity of the country and recently arrested persons were his companions.
He assured that all those linked with this gang would also be brought to book irrespective of their status.
Tarar said like Pakistan Army, other institutions should also start the self-accountability process.
The minister said that the federal and Balochistan governments have launched a joint venture of 28,000 solar tube well programme which would not only save electricity but also provide relief to the farmers.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, he added, had asked for suggestions for right-sizing and down-sizing. Under this scheme non-functional departments were being shutdown to reduce expenditure of the government, he maintained.
Responding to media persons questions, Tarar said that the government was taking both short-term and long-term steps to reduce power tariff and a task force was working on this agenda.
