National development hallmark of PML-N: Ahsan
Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Professor Ahsan Iqbal on Wednesday said national development always remained the hallmark of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz whenever it came into power.
“If we look at the last 40 years’ development history of the country, all major projects from Karachi to Peshawar carry the stamp of our Quaid Nawaz Sharif and the PML-N whether these are motorways, universities, policy frameworks, energy and CPEC (China Pakistan Economic Corridor) initiatives,” he said while addressing the PML-N’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa-chapter convention here.
The minister recalled that the PML-N during its last government (2013-18) pulled the country out of 18-hour long load-shedding, got rid of terrorism and ensured improved economic conditions under the dynamic leadership of Nawaz Sharif.
He said it was unfortunate that the journey of development that got momentum in 2017, was disrupted under a conspiracy with 2018-rigged elections to hand over the reins of government to an “incompetent Imran Khan”, who had ruined the national economy and brought the country on the verge of bankruptcy.
“Bringing Imran Khan into power in 2018 is no less than the tragedy of 1971 when Pakistan was disintegrated. In 1971, Pakistan faced geographical disintegration but the Imran Khan government broke the national economy into small pieces, posing severe threats to our [Pakistan] sovereignty.”
In 2018, Ahsan Iqbal said, the total size of debt servicing was around Rs 1,700 billion and the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government during its four-year period took 80 per cent loans of the country’s total debt, which today stood around Rs 7,500 billion against the revenue of Rs 6,900 billion.
He said when the incumbent government came into power, the country was passing through difficult times but with a prudent strategy, things had started moving in the right direction now.
He expressed confidence that the public would vote for the PML-N in the next general elections and his party would again put the country on a consistent path of development and prosperity as it had done during its last government tenures.
