Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif said on Monday that national consensus was required to construct Kalabagh Dam, and that the problem could only be resolved if the entire nation stands united on the issue.
Nawaz was talking to reporters after former federal minister Khawaja Muhammad Hoti announced his entry into the PML-N.
He said the entire nation should decide whether Kalabagh Dam was needed or not. He said that national consensus must be built before taking any decision in this regard.
Earlier in his address, the twice-elected former prime minister vowed to build a new, prosperous and developed Pakistan, once his party comes into power, again.
The chief of the ruling party in Punjab said that he would make Pakistan an economic power and a vibrant Muslim welfare-state, adding that Pakistan had great potential but efforts were needed to fully utilise its resources.
He said that had his government not been overthrown in 1999, Pakistan would have achieved “tremendous economic progress”, adding that he was planning to link Pakistan with Central Asian states through motorways.
He urged the people to elect “honest and upright” representatives in the upcoming elections, while claiming that he had never used power to fulfil personal interests.
Nawaz said the PML-N would continue its efforts to eliminate corruption, as it was directly affecting economic growth rate and people’s lives.
Dejected by PTI, Mohammad Khan Hoti joins PML-N
Former provincial minister and former central vice president of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Mohammad Khan Hoti on Monday announced joining the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). Hoti made the announcement in the presence of PML-N President Nawaz Sharif at the Hoti House in Mardan on Monday. His son Omar Farooq Khan Hoti was also present. Before joining the PTI in December 2011, Hoti was associated with the Awami National Party. He was elected to the National Assembly on an ANP ticket in 2008 general elections and later became a federal minister. However, before completing one year in the ministerial office, he was asked to resign by the ANP leaders. Before joining the ANP somewhere in 2004, Hoti was leading his own faction of the Pakistan People’s Party. Hoti, associated with the PPP since 1988, became its provincial president in 1999 but after October 2002 general elections, he was ousted from the PPP without any formal notification or announcement. In 2003, Rahim Dad Khan was made the provincial president of the PPP. After leaving the PTI in August 2011, he made an attempt to join Fazlur Rehman’s Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl but his terms and conditions were rejected by the party. Later, he was approached by PPP’s Provincial President Anwar Saifullah Khan for rejoining the PPP but Hoti preferred to join hands with his first cousin Nawabzada Arsala Khan Hoti, who is considered one of the close aides of Nawaz Sharif.
