LAHORE – Renowned social activist Salman Sufi has lavished praise on former chief minister Punjab, Shehbaz Sharif for having invested too much for the betterment of the province.
In a Twitter message, the former head of former director general of CM’s Strategic Reform Unit asked whether the credit for mega projects including Lahore Ring Road, Punjab Education Endowment Fund, Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute and power plants goes to Shehbaz Sharif or not.
Salman was moved by scores of tweets by officials who apparently claimed to serve Punjab on their own without the support of Shehbaz Sharif – who was the chief minister of the province from 2008 to 2018.
https://twitter.com/SalmanSufi7/status/1063811826989875200
Sufi, who recently won ‘Mother Teresa Awards 2018’ inquired whether Shehbaz Sharif had a role in the development of Punjab or the claimants of progress did it all alone.
Reading few tweets and it looks like Shehbaz Sharif has nothing to do with Punjab and people he hired miraculously did it all alone, tweeted Sufi.
Salman Sufi is widely praised for his services to reduce the gender disparity in Punjab and he appreciates Shehbaz Sharif for lending unflinching support in this regard.
Sufi’s reforms were widely supported by previous government led by PML-N especially, but have been placed on the back burner by the new administration.
He was asked to leave his post due to his close working coordination with former chief minister Shehbaz Sharif and his projects which gained worldwide recognition are facing trouble at home in Pakistan.
Salman Sufi said that he dedicates this award to all the women in Pakistan who faced harassment and violence and hoped to continue providing justice to them. He credited the political support of former chief minister Shehbaz Sharif that made his work possible in Punjab.
He has initiated the movement for passage of Pakistan’s first comprehensive women protection legislation which had its own implementation mechanism called Violence Against Women Centers (VAWC).
VAWC is a one-stop survivor centric model which provides police, prosecution, medical, shelter and post-trauma psychological rehabilitation under one roof to survivors of violence. The legislation was passed in 2016 and received fierce criticism from the religious right wing.
