Other agenda items on PML-N’s table include “secure water future” (File)
Lahore:
A focus on getting Pakistan’s economy back on track, a message of peace to India, a pledge to tackle climate change and zero-tolerance towards terrorism are the highlights of the manifesto released by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s party on Saturday.
Less than two weeks before the February 8 general elections, the manifesto of Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) promises to send a “message of peace” to other countries, including India, on the condition that That New Delhi takes back its August. Dawn.com quoted the manifesto as saying that the 2019 action on Kashmir.
India has told Pakistan that Jammu and Kashmir is an indivisible and integral part of the country. Article 370, which was abrogated by the Parliament of India in 2019, is entirely a matter of India as well as its Constitution, the Ministry of External Affairs has reiterated earlier.
The manifesto also promises to tackle the effects of climate change and a “zero-tolerance policy” towards terrorism.
Other agenda items on the PML-N’s table include a “secure water future” and “adding life to the economy through exports”.
Released at a special event here in the provincial capital of Punjab, the PML-N later shared the detailed manifesto titled ‘Give Pakistan Ko Nawaz’ on its official X account.
“If voted to power, the party has vowed to provide faster development along with cheaper and better electricity to the public. Its promises include 20 to 30 per cent reduction in electricity bills, increase in power generation by 15,000 MW and expansion of power generation capacity by 10,000 MW. “Includes hikes.” megawatt production of solar power,” Dawn newspaper reported.
The party has vowed to ensure youth representation in national politics through Parliament, provincial and local governments and also said it aims to restore student unions, expand the National Youth Scheme, fund IT start ups. To allocate and enhance youth entrepreneurship.
It also promised to establish Pakistan’s first sports university and 250 stadiums and academies along with youth skill development.
Plan to bring about constitutional, legal, judicial and administrative reforms; combating violence against minorities; The document also mentions bringing a new labor policy to ensure the rights of women besides modernizing agriculture and making them independent.
Other promises include abolishing the National Accountability Bureau and bringing comprehensive amendments to the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 and the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 to standardize procedural laws.
According to The News International newspaper, the manifesto also states that if the party is elected, court proceedings will be broadcast live.
Nawaz Sharif described it as a “strange coincidence” that despite his removal from the post of Prime Minister in 2017 and “political vendetta” against the PML-N, his party members were once again “preparing to contest elections and Were presenting the manifesto.” The three-time former prime minister also said he neither intended to “express his grievances” nor was “in the mood to complain today.” Making an indirect reference to former Prime Minister Imran Khan, he said, ‘If I had been in the place of the person you saw in the previous government, I would never have done what he did.’ Criticizing the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party that formed the government after the 2018 elections, Nawaz Sharif said that Imran Khan’s rule broke the backs of poor people through inflation and power cuts. Nawaz Sharif claimed that electricity was never cut during his rule.
Nawaz Sharif also recalled PML-N’s previous tenure, saying there was “no inflation” at that time.
Pakistan is economically ruined and awaits a major fiscal default without the long-pending structural reforms demanded by global lenders such as the IMF and the World Bank as well as bilateral partners such as China and the UAE.
The primary reason behind Pakistan’s economic issues is its staggering debt levels, which, by 2023, owes about US$125 billion to external creditors, of which about a third is to China.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
