MUZAFFARABAD: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has said the nations around the world did show reverence to their leaders who served them but unfortunately in Pakistan, they were dragged in courts and had to face legal proceedings.
Addressing the inauguration ceremony of 969 MW Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Project yesterday, the prime minister said the countries where there was no respect for the politicians as well as the politics, could not achieve progress.
The prime minister was accompanied by his cabinet members including Barjees Tahir, Engineer Khurram Dastgir, Syed Javed Shah, Marriyum Aurangzeb, Governor Punjab Muhammad Rafiq Rajwana, Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, President AJK Sardar Masood Ahmed Khan, AJK PM Raja Farooq Haider and Chairman WAPDA besides representatives of foreign firms, participating in the project.
The project would generate 5.150 billion units of electricity annually and generate Rs 55 billion revenue which will eventually increase in subsequent years. Completed at cost of around $5 billion, the power project comprises four units with generation capacity of 242.25 MW each.
The prime minister said in other countries where the leaders delivered, were given respect but unfortunately in Pakistan, instead of showing ovation, such leaders were dragged in the courts and had to face legal proceedings.
Referring to verdict for lifetime disqualification of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister said verdict was unfortunate. He said this practice needed to be abandoned as it must be the people who decide the fate of their leaders.
The prime minister said consequent to the untiring efforts, the government had successfully overcome the power shortfall by executing power project to add around 10,400 MW of electricity. He said currently, only those areas were facing forced load shedding where power theft had been reported.
