Only by subduing sit-ins Pakistan can be built
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Wednesday said by learning the past mistakes, the people should now reject the dirty politics of sit-ins, which had inflicted huge losses to the national economy.
The prime minister, addressing engineers and workers at the under-construction Karot Hydropower project here, said the 2014 sit-in (by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf) still haunted the memories as it had caused the postponement of the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“A sit-in is being planned again… We should not divide the nation through sit-in… What message you are giving through the sit-in?” the prime minister questioned the PTI leadership which was on its way to Islamabad for a sit-in in the federal capital.
Without naming the PTI, he said the political party had been requested to suspend or relocate their sit-in for three days from D Chowk, but they were adamant about not changing their mind.
He said that had the visit of the Chinese president taken place in 2014, the Karot power project – a part of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor – would have been completed a year ago to contribute 720 megawatts to the national grid. He said the government was trying to rectify the bad economy and inflation inherited from the previous regime, which by reducing the oil prices, left behind a “landmine”.
The prime minister, who reviewed the progress on the project, said the project faced some delays due to COVID and other related issues. He said the last prime minister had enough time to drag the opposition to a tight corner and create division in the society but could not find some time to visit the gigantic project and control inflation, poverty, and unemployment.
