KARACHI: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Balochistan CM Nawab Aslam Raisani and Sindh CM Syed Qaim Ali Shah have vowed to make Pakistan a welfare state as envisioned by the Quaid-i-Azam.
Talking to reporters here on Thursday after visiting the Quaid’s mausoleum, the three chief ministers underscored the need of unity among provinces to steer the country out of its crises.
Punjab CM Shahbaz Sharif said democracy was restored to Pakistan due to the
sacrifice of Benazir Bhutto and “we could pay tribute to her by strengthening democratic institutions of the country”. He said slain PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto and PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif signed the Charter of Democracy (CoD) in May 2006 that paved the way for democracy in the country. Shahbaz said the dictators ruled the country for 10 years but the vested interests were not ready to allow a democratically-elected government to complete its tenure. "Only two years have passed and there seems hullabaloo against it in the country," he said. The chif minister said there was no reality of minus-one formula, and if the nation was united on the issue of democracy in the country, all such formulas would vanish into thin air. He said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz would not become part of any plot to remove the president from his office.
The Balochistan chief minister said Pakistan needs new social contract on the basis of resolution adopted by the Quaid-i-Azam in 1940. Shahbaz said he has written in the visitors’ book at the Quaid’s mausoleum that “we are ashamed because we could not make Pakistan a state as envisaged by the Quaid-i-Azam”.
Answering a question, he said, conspiracies are being hatched to create differences among provinces. The prime minister is in contact with chief ministers of all the provinces, he said. When asked about the NWFP demand to change the name of the province, Shahbaz said there is an era of democracy and the freedom of expression speaks beauty of democracy. “We can sit and resolve our differences and the nation is totally united on the 1973 Constitution,” he added.
It is not wrong to hold debate on new social contract among provinces, he said. He requested the media not to call Punjab as big brother. Resources would be distributed among provinces keeping in view the needs of masses, he said. The Sindh chief minister said the NFC is very critical issue and the matters were pending for the last many years but now the democratically-elected government of the PPP has taken initiative to resolve the issue.
Earlier, the Sindh chief minister hosted a luncheon for the chief ministers, who have come here to attend the NFC meeting. NWFP Chief Minister Amir Haider Hoti had to leave for Peshawar due to the bomb blast there.
Shahbaz invited businessmen to invest in dairy farming, livestock, and coal projects in the Punjab. He was addressing top businessmen at a get-together hosted by a former governor of Sindh Syed Mamnoon Hussain at a hotel here. The chief minister while talking to media persons after his meeting with Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad condemned the Peshawar blast.
Shahbaz said Pakistani banks and other financial institutions should play their role for the national development. He said this while addressing the presidents of banks at the State Bank building on Thursday. SBP President Syed Saleem Raza was also present.
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