RAHIM YAR KHAN-Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday advised Imran Khan that if he (Khan) deems Shehbaz Sharif more dangerous man than Nawaz Sharif, the PTI chairman should reconcile with Nawaz Sharif.
Shehbaz Sharif was addressing the inaugural ceremony of Khawaja Fareed University of Engineering and Information Technology (KFUEIT) near Amman Garh, some 10km from here on Saturday. The Punjab chief minister said that Southern Punjab is ready for a step forward from Central Punjab because many historical developmental works has been completed in the region.
"Ask those politicians raising slogan for Janoobi Punjab what was the condition of South Punjab in their tenure? It was like desert and craving for development and now the PML-N government installed solar power plant in it and laid a network of road and dual carriageways," he asserted.
Shehbaz Sharif claimed that his government has spent Rs4.5 billion on the completion of the university in the first phase and now people should elect the persons who executed development in the region, not those who filled their pockets. "But today all those politicians are united who filled their pockets at the cost of the region," he regretted.
He further said that if he get another to serve the masses in upcoming general elections, he would establish 12 new universities across Punjab.
JOURNALISTS NOT ALLOWED, ROUGHED UP
On the other hand KFUEIT security guards, the district administration and police did not allowed local journalists to cover function despite having security passes issued by the police security branch.
The KFUEIT administration had also issued separate "Golden Cards" for all guests except media persons so the situation turned tense when many cameramen and DSNG vans were not allowed to enter the university by police and University security guards. The journalists boycotted the function and started chanting slogans "Media ko izzat do" and "Sahafeeon ko izzat do". A PML-N Youth Wing leader thrashed the reporter of a news channel when the later quarrelled with Haji Ibrahim, the elder brother of PML-N MNA Mian Imtiaz Ahmed over boycott of the function.
Similarly, a woman coming to Sheikh Zayed Medical College Hospital along with ailing minor was stopped by police for two hours on Abu Dhabi Road in the name of security.
Later when journalists protested in front of the chief minister, Shehbaz Sharif apologised the journalists and took notice of manhandling of the journalists. He also constituted an inquiry committee headed by Minister for Higher Education Ali Raza Gilani to probe incident.
On the other hand, the PML-N party workers also protested before the arrival of CM because KFUEIT administration did not arrange chair for PML-N district president Khalid Shaheen. The district administration, however, immediately arranged chair on stage and controlled the situation.
Earlier, the KFUEIT officials briefed the CM that the civil work of six academic blocks has been completed in phase one. The phase two will be completed in December 2018 and total cost would reach Rs6 billion. It will be the largest university of Southern Punjab established on 275 acres of land and more 175 acres of land is required for the completion of phase two.
Almost 2,400 students are getting education in the university. But according to some university sources, the civil work of six academic blocks of phase one is still in progress. The front elevation of these has been completed but the civil work is continued at the backside of these academic blocks.