CHINIOT – Key leaders of ruling Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz from Chiniot city mysteriously avoided attending the party president and Chief Minister Punjab Shehbaz Sharif during a recent visit.
As the tenure of ongoing PML-N’s stint is ending in a week, Shehbaz Sharif has intensified his visits to different cities, inaugurating health units and other facilities to woo voters ahead of the forthcoming elections.
In one such visit to Chiniot on Tuesday, the incumbent leader of embattled PML-N was left in the lurch when chairs of the MPAs, Maulana Rehmat Ullah, Mehr Imtiaz Lali and Mehr Saqlain Anwer Sipra, besides those of MNAs Mehr Ghulam Muhammad Lali and Qaisar Ahmad Sheikh were initially left vacant during an event in the city.
After some time, the chief minister got some respite when MPAs Maulana Ilyas Chinioti, Mr Sipra and Maulana Rehmat Ullah arrived there; Municipal Committee chairman Mehr Khalid and Zila Council chairman Saqlain Sajanka were also invited to stage to fill the vacant seats, intended for the lawmakers.
The absentees did not flank the chief minister during his visit to the district headquarters hospital; only MPA Ilyas Chinioti accompanied the chief minister during the visit.
Shehbaz Sharif, who is trying to dampen the damage caused by the legal battles fought by his elder brother, was also surprised due to the fact that PML-N had won all the national and provincial assemblies seats in the district in 2013 elections.
According to sources, the parliamentarians, through their gesture, alluded to their grievances especially stemming out of denial of funds by the Punjab government for mega projects in Chiniot like the dual carriageway project and construction of the district complex etc.
The sources claimed some of these lawmakers were also in contact with the opposition parties, including the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, to secure tickets for the upcoming polls.
Inaugurations in Chiniot Visit
The ambitious Sharif was unfazed over the absentees as he inaugurated a hepatitis filter clinic, an incinerator and other projects in the revamped district headquarters hospital.
He inspected different sections of the hospital and showed a keen interest in the incinerator project.
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Talking to newsmen, the chief minister said incinerator installed at a cost of Rs25 million would help control spread of diseases in the hospital; he also went to hepatitis filter clinic and had a conversation with the patients.
Shehbaz Sharif also inspected modernisation work and visited the OPD, indoor block, emergency ward and operation theatres of the hospital.
Health Minister Khwaja Imran Nazir, Secretary Ali Jan Khan and others were also present.
Okara Visit
The CM Punjab also made a visit to Okara where the situation was different as scores of PML-N leaders accompanied their boss.
He inaugurated the 50-bed emergency ward in DHQ hospital worth Rs160 million that was equipped with CT-scan and MRI machines.
On the occasion, he avoided political questions and preferred to talk about the development related matters.
“The health and education had become priorities in Punjab and so far DHQ hospitals had been provided with the latest medical and surgical equipment in 20 districts of the province,” the CM highlighted.
The younger Sharif also quoted the latest UNDP report that ranked Punjab on the top in education and health sectors as compared to other provinces of the country, especially the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, ruled by his rival, Imran Khan.
He censured the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan for levelling false allegation and said that during the last five years Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was destroyed and now the ‘Niazi party’ had given its first 100-day plan for the nation.
MNAs Chaudhry Riazul Haq Juj, Nadeem Abbas Rubera, Rao Muhammad Ajmal Khan, provincial ministers Syed Raza Ali Gillani, Khawaja Imran Nazeer, MPAs Chaudhry Javid Allaudin and former MPA Rai Noor Muhammad Kharal, the father of MPA Samina Noor turned up in the event.
