Zardari wants postponement of elections:Shahbaz Sharif

Lahore: Punjab Chief Minister, Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif has said that the laptop scheme initiated by Punjab government with a huge sum of Rs.8 billion will provide opportunities to boy and girl students of modern education and research while the country will also embark upon the road to progress and development. He said that the national economy has been destroyed by the corruption of Zardari and his cronies while the country is in darkness. He said that boy and girl students through laptops should find the formula of elimination of corruption, development of agriculture and strengthening of national economy as well as changing the darkness into light. He said that Zardari is looking for ploys for the postponement of elections but he will be disappointed. He said that after winning the general elections, Pakistan Muslim League-N will recover every penny of looted money and utilize it for the welfare of the masses. He said that Ujala programme of providing solar energy lamps has been started for two lakh boy and girl students who fulfill the demands of merit. The Chief Minister also announced provision of five thousand laptops to PhD students and the teachers supervising them.

He was addressing laptop distribution ceremony among 8631 boy and girl students at Bahauddin Zakriya University Multan today. More than 15 thousand boy and girl students and teachers attended the ceremony. Provincial Minister Haji Ehsan ud Din Qureshi, Advisor Zaeem Hussain Qadri, Assembly Members Rana Mahmood ul Hassan, Tariq Rasheed, Dewan Syed Ashiq Hussain Bukhari and Vice Chancellor Bahauddin Zakariya University Prof. Dr. Khawaja Alqama were also present on the occasion. The Chief Minister said that Zardari government has given nothing but corruption and darkness to the country and the corrupt rulers through loot and plunder have brought agriculture, industries, exports and national economy to the verge of disaster. He said that Punjab government has started Ujala programme of provision of solar lamps to boy and girl students on merit basis so that the darkness should not hinder their studies while their houses are also lit up. He said that even he does not have the authority to give laptop or solar energy lamp to anyone as only talent is required for their acquisition. He said that laptops and solar energy lamps are being given to talented boy and girl students studying in Punjab without discrimination of their being Siraiki, Punjabi, Balochi, Sindhi or Pathan. He said that besides laptop scheme, Punjab government has also set up Information Technology University which will produce personalities like Einstein and Arfa Karim who will take the country to the heights of progress and prosperity.

The Chief Minister further said that a Barhay Khan Sahib is saying that Chief Minister is bribing the youth. He said that while the child of a rich family has all facilities of education and health, a poor child loses his life due to not having money for treatment and is deprived of education despite having talent because of poverty. He said that Muslim League-N government has set up 16 Daanish Schools from Kot Sabzal Rahim Yar Khan to Attock and Mianwali where poor boy and girl students are availing Atchison College facilities while free boarding and lodging facilities and textbooks are also available to them. Moreover, he said that IT Labs have been set up at a cost of five billion rupees in more than four thousand schools of the province and a sum of Rs. 10 billion has been provided for Punjab Endowment Fund. He said that internship programme has been launched for 50 thousand graduates under which besides training at various government institutions a monthly stipend is also being given to them. The Chief Minister said he wanted to inform the critics of the programme of empowerment of youth that these schemes are not aimed at winning over the youth but are a revolutionary measure to make Pakistan an educated and enlightened country. Later, the Chief Minister distributed laptops among boy and girl students.