KOHAT: Opposition’s politics of dharnas will meet its end in the 2018 general elections, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Friday.
He was addressing a public gathering at the Qila Ground, Kohat. “If the government’s successful journey continues uninterrupted till 2018, the opposition’s politics of protests and sit-ins will meet its end. The government’s efforts to bring economic stability and start mega development projects has made the opposition realise they face defeat in 2018,” he said.
The prime minister said that Pakistan was destined to become a developed state. “The fact that their political careers will end by 2018 worries them. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) should be changed for the better. We will bring that change,” he said.
“They have not done anything in KP over the past three years. The PML-N government will come to power in KP as well in 2018,” the prime minister said.
The PM said that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) would once again emerge victorious in the upcoming general elections.
The PM said that the KP government had deceived the masses by raising the slogan of change. “This never happened and the provincial government did not focus on the uplift of the province,” he said.
“The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor will bring prosperity and progress to Pakistan,” Nawaz said, adding that load-shedding would end by 2018.
The PM announced a development package, including gas provision, a new road, hospital, railway service and a university campus for Kohat.
The gas project will cost Rs 3.9 billion and will benefit people of Kohat, Khushal Garh, Shairkot, Alizai, Nusrat Pur, Dhoda and Chorluki.
He said that a highway would link Kohat, Jand and Pindi Gaib. “The road will be linked to the Islamabad-Peshawar Motorway,” he said. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said orders for the construction of the road had already been issued to the National Highways Authority.
The PM announced to establish a state-of-the-art hospital and a campus of the Kohat University for women in the city. The prime minister said a rail service would also be started from Rawalpindi to Kohat.
He announced a grant of Rs200 million for district and Rs100 million for tehsil councils.
Earlier while addressing the gathering, PML-N leader Abbas Khan Afridi said the people of KP strongly supported the development agenda of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
“The opponents are scared of the PML-N government and its development agenda. They know that if the development process continues at such a fast pace, their politics will be buried forever,” he said.
He said the federal government was bringing a positive change in KP. “Top officials of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank have endorsed the rapid progress and stability of Pakistan’s economy. This is a great achievement of the present government,” Afridi said.
He said people of KP had been deprived of development and their problems had increased manifold due to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government. “People of KP are not interested in politics of agitation. They only want a solution of their problems,” he said.
He said that the Kohat Tunnel and highway projects were a gift of prime minister for the people of Kohat.
He thanked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for announcing the development package for Kohat. “It will bring a positive socio-economic change in the lives of the local people. The gas project inaugurated today by the PM will address a long-standing problem of the people of Kohat,” he said.
Protest: PTI activists staged a protest rally on the arrival of the PM in Kohat on Friday. They chanted anti-government slogans outside the public meeting. PML-N activists also gathered there and started raising slogans against Imran Khan. Members of both groups then pelted each other with stones. Police fired teargas shells and baton-charged the activists to bring the situation under control.