Nawaz Sharif will spearhead govt, Promises ‘new era’ for Punjab,
Lahore_Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz leader Maryam Nawaz said on Wednesday that her party has a decisive majority in Punjab and will usher in a new era for the province.
Maryam had been nominated as the party’s candidate for the post of chief minister.
“I know I have big shoes to fill,” Maryam said, referring to Nawaz’s two terms as chief minister.
Maryam said that the elections had been difficult due to the ‘incumbency factor’ as the PDM government had to take many unpopular decisions in its tenure.
She also added that the party had gained a clear majority despite an air of propaganda. She claimed that the addition of independent candidates had almost given the party two-thirds majority.
Maryam said it was an honour to be the first-ever CM candidate in Pakistan. She also said she ‘dedicated’ it to the mothers and daughters of the province.
Without naming PTI, she added that Punjab had been severely neglected in the tenure of the previous government and had not taken a single step forward.
Maryam added that five years for a ‘short’ time in view of the challenges faced by the government, but she has made a comprehensive plan.
She added that she wanted to treat the 297 constituencies as 297 districts, and she wanted to provide clean water and sewearge projects to every part of the province.
The PMLN leader claimed that she had been briefed by the IG Punjab on the safe-city project in Lahore and now wished to spread it across the province.
She spoke of projects including ‘Suthra Punjab’ and ‘Mehfooz Punjab’. She also said she had done her homework on traffic plans, and IT cities. She also said that she wanted to undertake a project to train nurses and send them abroad.
If voted into power, Maryam will become the first woman to be elected as a chief minister in Pakistan’s seven-decade-plus history. She will take over the province with a population of more than 127 million people, more than half of Pakistan’s population.
“This was a tough election, I thank the people of Punjab for providing us with a clear majority. We will set records of service; I haven’t rested since the election results, all of us will have to work as a team,” she added.
Maryam, who holds the portfolios of PML-N’s senior vice-president and chief organiser, said it was a “huge honour” for her to be nominated as Punjab’s first chief minister and dedicated it to the “daughters, mothers, sisters, and reserved seats’ women”.
The CM nominee said the province faces “major challenges” in the health care and education sectors as well as the local government. “There’s also a huge issue of sewage, clean water in rural areas.”
Maryam told the newly-elected MPAs that they would have to view Punjab’s 297 constituencies as 297 districts in order to ensure development in every lawmaker’s constituency.
“I have worked on the Safe Punjab Programme; we’ll have to expand the Safe City Project to all cities. To improve the environment of police stations for women, we will be making model women police stations,” she said.
She added that her government would also address the problem of traffic in Lahore. Lamenting that there’s no IT city across the country, she vowed to establish five of them across the province.
“We will also deliver marriage, death, and car certificates to people’s homes,” she said, adding that her government would also grant interest-free loans to the youth. “We’ll redesign health cards and ensure treatment at private and public hospitals.”
The CM-hopeful also pledged to work on the health and education sectors and the provision of employment and housing to the people of the province.
“We will made one hundred thousand houses for the poor, provide interest-free loans to the youth and merit-based scholarships to young students to study abroad,” she added
