HAVELIAN: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday inaugurated the Havelian-Mansehra section of the Hazara Motorway project, ARY News reported.
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The 39.3 km Havelian-Mansehra section of the118-km-long motorway project will reduce the travel time by up to 2.5 hours between Islamabad and Mansehra.
The four-lane controlled access motorway is part of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project and will serve as the main route for the commercial traffic between two countries.
Addressing the inauguration ceremony, the prime minister lauded the KPK Chief Minister Mehmood Khan and Federal Minister for Communication and Postal Services Murad Saeed for completing the project on time.
“This road is now part of the CPEC project, which initially comprises of a road and two power stations,” he taunted.
Briefing on his government activities, the prime minister said improving health and education sectors were their prime focus.
“We have eliminated duty on hospital equipment,” he informed and further said that all-out efforts were underway to improve the education sector in the country.
Imran Khan also took a jab at Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Fazl (JUI-F), the party which staged a sit-in in Islamabad recently, and termed their sit-in “a circus”,
He was of the view that almost every other opposition leader including Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif attended the protest “to save themselves from accountability”.
“The only purpose of this circus (JUI-F sit-in) was to raise a hue and cry to get relief in corruption cases,” said the premier.
He also lamented as to how seminary students, who know nothing of the real purpose of the protest, were “used” in the sit-in.
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The prime minister said that some of his cabinet members were afraid of the outcome of the sit-in but he gave courage to them.
“The only issue they had was with Imran Khan because they know that I will not forgive their corruption as God has given me the courage and determination to fight against such villains,” the premier said.
Khan blamed the past rulers who took excessive loans for the recent hike in commodity prices.
“It is a clear message from my side that I will not forgive mafia,” he said adding that he knows the masses are passing through testing times but soon it would be over.
Speaking about former premierNawaz Sharif’s imminent departure, he said that a majority of the cabinet had a consensus that “these thieves” should not be allowed to go abroad but he decided to allow them on humanitarian grounds only asking for a mere seven billion in indemnity bonds from them.
He was of the view that the demand for indemnity bond was justified for members of the Sharif family have fled abroad in past and have not returned to face cases against them.
The PM said that he respects the decision of the court in the case but also asked the Chief Justice of Pakistan to join hands with the executive in making accountability laws more effective.
