Fresh elections solution to all crises: Shahbaz
13 July, 2012
LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has stressed the need for holding fresh general elections to resolve the ongoing energy crisis, corruption, and other issues facing the nation.
He said that due to load shedding, everyone is worried whereas the federal government had lost confidence of the masses due to accusations and cases of corruption against the ruling elite.
Expressing his views on different issues during his special interview to a well-known international newspaper The Gulf News, the chief minister said that his party had supported the government of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) in the centre with sincere intentions, but President Asif Ali Zardari did not fulfil his promises.
He said, "We cannot close our eyes to corruption and inefficiency of the federal government, therefore, we are pressurising the federal government to hold immediate elections."
Answering a question about establishment of new provinces, the chief minister said that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is in favour of new provinces and has approved a resolution in this regard in the Punjab Assembly, asking the federal government to set up a national commission. However, Shahbaz said the PML-N was against setting up new provinces on linguistic and racial bases.
He said that the PPP was using the division of Punjab as a stunt to win elections in Punjab, which did not behoove of a political party.
He said his party was also against the division of Sindh, as it would negatively affect its administrative capacity. However, he hoped the proposed national commission would make recommendations for setting up new provinces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, southern Punjab, besides restoring Bahawalpur as a separate administrative unit.
Shahbaz pointed out since the cost of land had gone way above the paying capacity of common man, therefore, the Punjab government had initiated Aashiyana Housing Scheme so that citizens could be provided constructed houses, on subsidised rates through transparent balloting while this scheme would also be expanded to the entire province. About Danish Schools, the chief minister said that there was an extensive system of public schools in Punjab with an annual budget of more than Rs 100 billion, whereas the annual budget of Danish Schools was less than even half a billion rupees.
The chief minister said that Danish Schools were not a rival system to the government schools, but aimed at provision of top notch academic facilities to the students, belonging to the deprived segment of society to enable them to have better socio-economic condition.
He said that very few people know that the expenditure of students, studying in Danish Schools is even less than that in a government school.
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