Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Friday said that the only ‘achievement’ of President Asif Ali Zardari, his government and allies during the last five years was “ruthless” corruption and massive price-hike. Speaking at his presidential address at the concluding session of the annual conference of Naziria-e-Pakistan Trust at Aiwan-e-Karkunan-e-Tehrik-e-Pakistan, the chief minister said that the masses were not likely to forget the gifts given to them by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government. Moreover, he alleged that the rulers of Islamabad had been shamelessly engaged in corruption, whereas the Punjab government had promoted a corruption-free culture in the province. Shahbaz said that the Punjab government had set a new record signing an agreement with Transparency International Pakistan (TIP) to judge the transparency of projects worth over Rs 36 billion. He said this agreement was not a legal obligation of the provincial government, but it had voluntarily agreed to the accountability check. He said that he had presented himself for accountability as the chief minister of the province and he was ready to face any punishment if corruption of even a single penny was proved against him. Furthermore, he said that even the “puppet organisation” of federal government, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had also failed to bring forward any evidence of corruption against him. He said the country was heading towards general elections and people should get rid of all corrupt rulers. He said in spite of all problems and challenges, the 180 million people of the country from Peshawar to Karachi would have to elect such a leadership that had set exemplary records of its performance.
