Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif Tuesday said Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) together would make a "real new Pakistan", while those engaged in politics of sit-ins were destined to continue so. "A new, more sustainable partnership of PML-N and JUI-F is in the making, which will work together for the development of masses," the Prime Minister said after performing the ground-breaking of 285-kilometre-long D.I. Khan to Hakla motorway.
The project is part of the western alignment of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor. The Prime Minister said PML-N and JUI-F had joined hands to pursue the agenda of development, which was meant to change the fate of the people of Khyber Pukthunkhwa. He said the tall claims by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf of making a 'New Pakistan' had been evaporated in the absence of any performance in KPK.
He said PTI had faced defeat in the Peshawar's recent by-elections as people had become aware of its agenda. He claimed that PTI would ultimately lose its control in the province during general election 2018. "The opponents are using the youth as a tool, while for us, they are our assets," Nawaz Sharif said addressing a mammoth public gathering mainly comprising youth supporters from both PML-N and JUI-F.
The Prime Minister launched a Rs 770 million project of provision of gas to the tehsils of D.I. Khan. He announced a package of development funds worth Rs 500 million for D.I. Khan city and district. He announced setting up an agriculture university in the city. He directed to complete the Chashma Right Bank Canal project with a cost of Rs 120 billion within three months.
The Prime Minister said 65 percent of the expenditure would be borne by the federal government while 35 percent by the provincial government of KPK. He also ordered to carry out the feasibility study of Tank Zam dam and a project of preventing measures for losses due to floods. Maulana Fazlur Rehman, in his speech, termed people as the true power and spirit of democracy and added that the massive public gathering in D.I. Khan had demonstrated support for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
"We support peace, stability and strong democracy in the country," he said. He said criticism was the right of political parties, however stressed that it must not result in destabilisation of democracy. Fazlur Rehman said the Opposition retracted several times of its demands in relation to a judicial commission on the Panama leaks scandal. He said Imran Khan, had been involved in setting up an offshore company in 1983 and added that he (Imran) had also in 1987 requested the then chief minister Nawaz Sharif to allot him a land. Maulana Fazlur Rehman presented a souvenir of local traditional woodcraft to the Prime Minister. Governor KPK Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, Federal Minister for Housing Akram Durrani and Leader of Opposition in KPK Assembly Lutf-ur-Rehman were present.