ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday welcomed the Pakistan cricket team to the Prime Minister’s House at a ceremony hosted in the honour of the team for winning the Champions Trophy after defeating arch rival India last month.
Addressing the participants, the prime minister recounted how he used to play cricket in his younger days. The participants broke out in laughter when Nawaz Sharif said even Panama Papers and the JIT couldn’t give him the pain he had to endure when he and his teammates were forced out of a cricket ground in his college days.
The prime minister said he couldn’t recall how many sixes he had hit in the past, but he was sure he struck more boundaries. He said he always disliked the bouncers.
“We are conquerors of every ground. Don’t beg any team for a visit if they are not willing to come,” he said.
Expressing pleasure over Pakistan cricket team’s marvels during the ICC Champions Trophy, the prime minister said due to the policies of PML-N government Pakistan now enjoyed the status of a fast developing country among the comity of nations.
He said when the PML-N came to power in 2013, the country was at the brink of default, with power shortage and terrorism plaguing the people.
But Pakistan embarked upon a journey of progress and prosperity with several development initiatives taken by his government, boosting its power, energy and infrastructure sectors, he added.
The prime minister said the power sector was now witnessing an unprecedented boom with the establishment of new power plants. Similarly, a vast network of roads and motorways was being laid, he said, mentioning the Lahore to Karachi motorway and six-lane Hyderabad-Sukkar-Multan-Lahore motorway.
He said Gwadar and Khunjrab were also being linked through roads at a cost of about 1,000 billion rupees. The country’s growth rate was on the surge, which would soon touch the mark of 6 per cent, he added.
The prime minister said the backbone of terrorists had been broken and informed the gathering that he was told by the Azad Kashmir prime minister and the Gilgit-Baltistan chief minister about the influx of visitors thronging the scenic valleys.
He said huge number of visitors were visiting Neelum and Leepa valleys and the Khunjrab Pass. He said such prospects were also infusing new spirit into sports activities in the country.
The prime minister said Pakistan had its self-respect and advised Najam Sethi not to beg any foreign team to come and play here. Expressing his confidence, he said time was not far off when all the international cricket teams would line up to play with Pakistan team at its homeland.
Separately, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif told China’s National Energy Administration to expand and diversify its investment in the power sector of Pakistan by joining process of setting up of transmission lines and local coal-generation projects.
In a meeting with NEA Chairman Nur Bekri, the prime minister said both the countries were working for the prosperity of the people of the region through joint economic and development efforts.
Acknowledging the support of NEA, the prime minister said that completion of the energy projects on fast track basis will help Pakistan in overcoming the energy crisis.
The prime ministers said Pakistan was fully committed to the timely and effective implementation of all projects under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). “Pakistan shares Chinese vision of regional and global economic integration through strengthening connectivity, and that is the reason Pakistan is among the early partners in the One Belt One Road initiative,” he said.
Nawaz said exemplary relations between Pakistan and China were based on mutual respect and trust and that Pakistan wished to explore all existing opportunities to further cement these relations. He emphasised that the government was committed to the efforts of improved regional connectivity and was extending its full cooperation for the early execution of the projects in the most effective manner.
The NEA chairman said his organisation was rigorously executing energy projects in Pakistan.
Published in Daily Times, July 5th , 2017.
