Punjab’s development was limited to govt ads: Imran Khan

• PTI chief says construction of bridges, roads not real development
• Imran skips budget speech in National Assembly to address Peshawar gathering

ISLAMABAD: Imran Khan said on Friday that the pace of development had stopped in Punjab after the Supreme Court’s ban on pictures of Shehbaz Sharif in public advertisements, reasoning that all the development limited to the advertisement campaigns.

Addressing Youth Assembly in Peshawar, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman said that people wrongly consider the construction of bridges and roads with development. He added that the real development would be to spend on basic facilities to bring prosperity and change in the overall structure of the society.

Imran Khan, who skipped the budget speech in National Assembly and traveled to Peshawar, added that the former premier Nawaz Sharif was introduced into politics with the help of General Zia-ul-Haq, but today he could not become a leader for the future anymore.

Criticising the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), He questioned that Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had not even worked for a single minute, asking why should he be allowed to rule the country. “Those who cannot face trouble in life cannot become successful leaders. Bacha Khan and Mufti Mahmood were great leaders who worked hard for noble causes,” he explained, rejecting the claims of PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari against the PTI.

Imran Khan said that the performance of health, education and police departments was better in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) as compared to the other province. He said that the former governments had destroyed state institutions and, in each government, they recruited their own people who are not working to run their departments.

He informed that the PTI would recruit employees on merit to bring revolution in running the affairs of the state. “PTI will bring such a system where the children of poor will get better education and earn a good name for the country,” he added.

Commenting on the importance of education, he said that without education no nation can progress and it is evident from the teaching of Holy Prophet when he told embattled inmates to educate ten persons who were uneducated. He said that PTI took the reign in KP, there were only 160 computers labs which now rose to 1300 while 0.1 million students came to government schools from private schools.

He underlined the importance of justice and supremacy of the merit and said, “Wherever there is merit, societies earn progress.” He also praised the KP employment scheme for youth and said that it would bring 100 per cent increase in its budget to empower the youth.

The PTI chief held meetings with PTI leaders in KP Chief Minister House where he was briefed by the secretaries regarding the performance of various government departments.