Punjab Governor Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar has said that Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) victory in the next elections was conditional on good governance and controlling inflation.
Sarwar made PTI’s victory contingent on a few factors while speaking to journalists at the Governor House on Thursday. He was confident that delivering good governance and getting rid of inflation would pave PTI’s path to victory.
“The formula is very simple. You have to control the inflation and provide maximum relief to the masses before going to the polls,” said Sarwar, who is also a part of the recently constituted 20-member PTI central advisory committee.
The governor said that it was clear that PTI had to give road infrastructure and clean drinking water to the people before the elections.
“We should bridge the gap between the leadership and the masses. Everyone must be united from top to bottom within the party ahead of the general elections,” said Sarwar. He advised all the leaders of the party to put their personal and political differences aside if they wanted to win the next elections.
When asked by Minute Mirror regarding his own plan to contest the next general elections, he said that he would contest them.
“The whole Punjab belongs to me and I’ll select my constituency after consulting the party,” governor said.
It would be pertinent to mention here that a debate has also been ongoing on whether a governor could contest an election or not. It was being claimed that the governor had to resign two years before the elections keeping in view the nature of his office.
“I have consulted my legal team and there are two to three precedents in Pakistan where the governor contested the elections without meeting the two-year ban imposed on government employees,” Sarwar said, exuding confidence regarding his candidature in the next elections.
Responding to questions by journalists, Sarwar stressed that a presidential system had no place in the country as the democratic system was strong enough in Pakistan. He furthered that both Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) completed their tenure and now it was PTI’s democratic right to do the same.
He asserted again that the opposition was no threat for the government and the elections would be held in the country in 2023. The governor said that the government’s biggest challenges were inflation and unemployment, adding that they were working hard to control soaring prices and poverty through different initiatives including Insaf Card, Ehsas Program and the Kisaan Card.
Our victory would be a given if we are able to bring reforms in the police and judiciary and our government has been working for that, he said. The governor said that they were providing relief to the people, but it was a fact that more work was needed in that regard.
The governor also addressed his recent visit to Europe, saying that he met with 120 members of parliament (MPs) to get an extension in Pakistan’s GSP plus status.
“I have discussed the Afghanistan and Kashmir issue during my visit to Europe and UK while also highlighting the peace efforts of Pakistan,” he said. The whole world has been appreciating Pakistan’s role in the Afghan peace process, he said, adding that it was a reality that global peace wasn’t possible without achieving peace in Afghanistan and therefore the whole world should play its role in it.
The governor also spoke at length about the filtration plants under the Punjab Aab-e-Pak Authority and said that 1,500 projects were completed. He stressed that there was no political favoritism in the distribution of the projects as filtration plants were also set up in opposition leaders’ constituencies.
He added that the projects were characterized by absolute transparency and that international organizations like UNICEF were also joining hands with Pakistan to provision clean drinking water to the inhabitants of Punjab. He assured that 7 million people in Punjab would get clean drinking water soon.
“We are also going to inaugurate water filtration plants in Lahore this Sunday,” he said.
