Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi has said "we would not let Benazir Bhutto runaway and she would have to account for her corruption, plundering the national coffers and we would prove her 'crimes' in People's court by giving crushing defeat in forthcoming elections.
He said Benazir had remained out of the country to evade corruption cases. He said when Benazir and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif left the country, Pakistan was about to be declared a 'failed state', but General Pervez Musharraf had strengthened the country's economy and built its image.
He was addressing a large public gathering in Shujaabad, Multan District on Saturday. Provincial ministers Rana Qasim Noon, Rai Mansab Ali Khan, Mueenuddin Riaz Qureshi, and Advisor Hafiz Iqbal Khakwani, Senator Syed Javed Ali Shah, Syed Mujahid Ali Shah, MPA, City District Nazim Mian Faisal Mukhtar were also present on the occasion. Chief Minister said that Benazir's long march began from corruption and concluded at Surray Palace.
Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi has said that Pakistan People's Party (PPP) chief Benazir Bhutto wants elections delayed until 2009, but General Pervez Musharraf had announced that the general elections would be conducted by February 15, 2008. He said that development work unprecedented in the last 30 years was initiated in Punjab, especially in the southern areas where huge funds amounting to 170 billion rupees were spent under the Muslim League government during the past five years.
Pervaiz Elahi said PML, and its allies would contest the elections together, form a government and once again serve the people with full diligence.
The CM said his government had spent Rs 117 billion on the construction of roads, hospitals, schools and infrastructure facilities in southern Punjab.
He said his government had exempted 12.5 acres of agriculture land from tax. The water management had improved under a programme of bricklining of watercourses, he added.
Elahi said proprietary rights had been given to the dwellers of katchi abadis and the government had allocated Rs 3.5 billion for their development. He said 180,000 girl students had been given a Rs 200 stipend to promote girls' education.