Sukkur - Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif Friday compared his political rivals to terrorists, saying the nation has rejected politics of protests.

Addressing a gathering after performing ground breaking of Rs294 billion Sukkur-Multan Motorway, he said the agenda of terrorists was to create disruption, chaos, law and order situation and push Pakistan back to the dark ages.

"A similar objective was being pursued by those who stage sit-ins, cause agitation and hinder country's march ahead (towards progress)," Nawaz Sharif said about Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, without taking name.

"They (opposition) wish to sabotage and divert attention of the government from development. The people of Pakistan have given us their mandate and with Allah's help, we will complete our tenure."

Pressed hard by opposition parties over the issue of Panam leaks, the PM has initiated a series of tours to different parts of the country, announcing and launching a string of development projects.

The nine opposition parties recently rejected terms of reference (ToRs) of a government-proposed commission to probe Panama Papers revelations about offshore companies of over 200 Pakistanis, the children of the PM being most prominent among them.

They have framed their on ToRs and demanding starting investigations from prime minister’s family.

Some of them, especially the PTI, are also demanding resignation of the PM to ensure a fair probe.

Nawaz Sharif said he wished that Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Syed Khurshid Shah (of Pakistan Peoples Party) was here at this grand event.

"We are building a bridge in your area, while you are demanding my resignation," he said. He added the Opposition Leader must understand the agenda (of PTI) and should not side with those who were against country's progress and development.

He said the nation has rejected the agenda of all those who were against Pakistan's development and progress. He said the people want an end to poverty, unemployment, lack of health, education and other social sector problems.

"We will continue to serve the masses selflessly with the same vigour, zeal and commitment," he said and added "Pakistan would soon be part of the global economic powers."

The prime minister said the politics of sit-ins had severely hindered the country's progress and prosperity. He regretted that the country lost a precious year due to the sit-ins which achieved nothing.

He asked the crowd whether the situation in the country has improved over the past three years or not, to which the PML-N workers responded in affirmation with enthusiasm.

Nawaz also questioned whether they saw improvement in situation in Karachi, law and order across the country, national economy, terrorism and other areas, to which the crowd acknowledged again with a resounding applause.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said he was proud that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) always worked with ‘complete transparency’.

He said former President Pervez Musharraf tried his best to dig out corruption but failed to find even a single penny against them.

Nawaz Sharif said Transparency International also endorsed this. Similarly, other international agencies also spoke of improving economic indicators, lower corruption, increased productivity, he added.

The Premier said today electricity loadshedding was considerably down and there was more availability of natural gas. He said the electricity tariff was now 30 percent down, new industries were being set up and lots of economic activity being generated.

He said he was not afraid of anyone and did his best to strengthen country's defence and said had they feared anyone, they would not have conducted the nuclear tests.

The prime minister said the Sukkur-Multan Motorway would form part of the multi-billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). He specifically mentioned the role of China in Pakistan's prosperity and said with the 46 billion dollar projects, the country would soon be amongst the list of developed countries.

He said his dream of connecting the entire country with a robust linkage of roads, motorways and expressways was about to come true. He added that CPEC project would link China's Kashgar with Gwadar, but the sections of motorways would also connect it to Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asian Republics.

Nawaz said the three billion population of the region (China, Saarc states and Central Asia) was almost equal to the population in rest of the world and said the people here have a bright future.

He said he had envisioned the project of regional connectivity in 1990, however regretted that all his plans were shattered due to the situation in 1999. He said had he continued with his ambitious plans, things today would have been different altogether.

PM Nawaz Sharif recalled the recent groundbreaking of the Karachi-Hyderabad Motorway and said work on the 296km long Sukkur-Hyderabad Motorway would start soon.

He said 393km long Sukkur-Multan would be a six-lane motorway with a far better quality than the existing roads. He said the new motorway would provide connectivity and speedy travel across the country.

The prime minster said his opponents do not wish him to undertake these gigantic development projects and said despite their attempts to hamper progress he would continue to serve the nation.

He also announced construction of the 125-year old Sukkur barrage bridge and said the new bridge would be built at a cost of Rs6.5 billion and work on the project would start this year. He said the old bridge would be preserved as a national heritage.

Acting Ambassador of China, Zhao Lijian said Peshawar-Karachi Motorway (PKM) and Karakorum Highway (KKH) - the two big projects under CPEC - were the most significant cooperation between the governments of Pakistan and China.

He mentioned that the Multan-Sukkur section was the most difficult section of PKM, owing to traffic density and population. He said the Chinese government decided to offer soft loan for building this section, which he said would create jobs, increase tax revenues, promote area links and ensure the well-being of people.

Zhao Lijian said the project being the largest under CPEC will be undertaken by the China Construction Company, which is the largest trans-national company in the world completing 1,500 projects globally. The company is also building terminal of Islamabad's new airport, he said.

Federal Communications Secretary Khalid Masood Chaudhry said the Karachi-Lahore motorway was being constructed by National Highway Authority (NHA) on priority basis as per directive of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. He highlighted the importance of the M5 which he said would be the fastest road link between Sindh and Punjab.

He mentioned that the six-lane motorway passing through Multan-Jalalpur Peerwala Ahmedpur East, Ubaro, Pano Aqil will terminate at Sukkur with a total 54 bridges to be constructed including one major bridge at river Sutlej.

Twelve service areas, 10 rest areas, 11 interchanges, 10 flyovers and 426 underpasses will also be included in this project, he said.

He said that the Karachi-Lahore section of the PKM had been divided into four sections including 136-km Karachi-Hyderabad Motorway, 296-km Hyderabad-Sukkur Motorway, 387-km Sukkur-Multan Motorway and 333-km Multan-Lahore Motorway.

Senator Nehal Hashmi and PML-N Sindh President Ismael Rahu also spoke on the occasion.