LAHORE - PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif said on Tuesday that PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari devastated Sindh during five years of his rule and did injustice to people of the province.

“Sindh is the land of Sufi saints and a wonderful part of Pakistan. People of Sindh played a historic role in creation of Pakistan. They tremendously love their country and have given sacrifices for the motherland. After the late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, development was done here in the tenure of Benazir Bhutto. During the Zardari era, Sindh was dealt with cruelly. Sindh was devastated during the tenure of Zardari and injustice was done to hapless landless people. Instead of working for prosperity of landless people, Zardari focused on his personal prosperity. He plundered national resources, but made no hospital for people of Sindh or any educational institution. He created no new job for Sindhis. He did not provide interest-free loans or subsidized fertilizers to landless people of Sindh. Time has come to take revenge for the injustice done to Sindhis. I am a Pakistani first and then anything else, as Pakistan is composed of its federating units. When all federating units will prosper, Pakistan will prosper. If Sindh is not developed, Pakistan will not be developed,” he said.

Shehbaz, who is also chief minister of Punjab, expressed these views while addressing a convention of party workers in the Matiari area in Sindh on Tuesday. He congratulated newly-elected PML-N Sindh President Shah Muhammad Shah and other office-bearers, adding that it was his first public meeting at the land of Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai. He said that he has come here to deliver a message of former prime minister and PML-N patron Nawaz Sharif. “I have come here to say this to millions of Sindhis from Halla to the Punjab border that general elections are around the corner. If you will give us a chance to serve through your votes, Sindh will be developed like Punjab and Karachi will be transformed like the city of Lahore. Daanish schools and hospitals will be developed in every district of Sindh,” he said.

Shehbaz said that wonderful roads had been built at the cost of Rs100 billion in rural areas of Punjab. He said that as much as Rs150 billion would be spent on roads in rural areas of Sindh province. He said that he was deeply saddened to see broken and dilapidated roads. Such roads are found everywhere in the province of Sindh. There are neither good hospitals nor high quality educational institutions like Daanish Schools in Sindh. Children of poor families are not given stipend for education.

Similarly, patients are not getting CT scan facilities in Sindh, Shehbaz said. “We have given stipend worth Rs17 billion to more than 350,000 students of deserving families,” he added. Children of poor people who are getting education with the help of stipend are becoming engineers and doctors, he said. He said that in order to eradicate unemployment, interest-free loans worth Rs46 billion have been given in Punjab under the Chief Minister’s Self-Employment Scheme. A large number of boys and girls are getting benefits from this useful project and are earning respectable livelihood for their families, he said.

Similarly, hospitals have been set up in every district and free of cost quality medicines and CT scan facilities are available at every public hospital, he said. He said that Zardari did nothing except plundering the national resources of Sindh and Pakistan. He said, “Today, Sindh is in a dilapidated condition, but Zardari is prosperous.” He said that land of Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai does not belong to PPP or PTI; it is land of Pakistan. He said that he has seen affection and enthusiasm of people and he will come here again and again. He said he will transform Sindh from Karachi to Kashmore the way he has transformed Punjab if he is elected again to serve the country.

Shehbaz said Zardari and PTI chief Imran Khan are one and the same thing and they have joined hands now. He said Zardari looted billions of rupees from the country and nowadays he is delivering sermons about his party’s next government. He said that there was no electricity in the country in 2013 when Zardari government came to an end. He said now it is up to people of Sindh. They will either get rid of Zardari or hold him accountable. He said that PML-N government under the leadership of Nawaz Sharif worked round-the-clock for getting rid of the energy crisis. He said, “If we get another chance, electricity will be provided to every small village of Sindh.”

Shehbaz said that he will talk to the federal government about the issue of shortage of electricity in Sindh. He said that Sindh is his province and Punjab comes after that. “Similarly, Punjab is your province and we have to build Pakistan jointly,” he said.