ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Minister for Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage Marriyum Aurangzeb on Thursday said Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) would contest next election on basis of performance as it fulfilled promises by reversing decades-old threat of terrorism, achieving sustainable economic growth and overcoming acute energy shortages.
While speaking during her visit to its headquarters of Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) in Islamabad, the minister said the PML-N government was countering politics of other parties with its performance and Pakistan was changing and gaining stability on diverse fronts. She said politics and performance were now interlinked and people would vote to the parties on basis of their performance.
Marriyum said Pakistan was passing through a defining moment, democracy was getting strengthened, development projects being completed and trust of people in democratic process was restored. She said PML-N fulfilled the promises and commitments made in its manifesto.
The information minister recalled that when the government came into power, consumers were suffering from energy outages of 16 to 17 hours per day but now there was a visible difference and improvement and electricity shortages were cut to three hours in cities and six hours in rural areas.
For the last two years, industry was being provided uninterrupted electricity after a gap of 14 years and this has a multiplier effect on the economy and job creation, she added.
The minister said army, law enforcement institutions and people of Pakistan were fighting war against terrorism for the last many years. She said that in 2013, war against terrorism was fought without any counter narrative.
Marriyum Aurangzeb said in 2013, on average 2400 incidents of terrorism occurred while in 2017, 170-180 incidents happened. She said that terrorists were on the run because of the world’s biggest counter-terrorism initiatives Operation Zarb-e-Azb and Operation Rudd-ul Fasaad.
Furthermore, she said ‘one road one belt’ initiative of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was a blessing for the Country as it would not only achieve connectivity for Pakistan but also for the whole region.
“CPEC will connect with all the major economic hubs of the world. Not only we but the whole world has declared it a game-changer,” she said.
Marriyum said those elements who wanted Pakistan to slide backwards were insecure about CPEC and people of Pakistan should not let these elements achieve their nefarious designs.
“Media should avoid controversies which are contrary to facts”, she said urging media to play a responsible role and avoid anything which could undermine CPEC.
The minister said those who were not well-wishers of Pakistan and region, wanted chaos to disrupt the smooth pace of work on CPEC projects.
