She said that blocking KP’s main roads does not affect Punjab’s economy but rather harms KP’s own economic activity.
Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif. Photo:X
GUJRAT:
Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz on Monday slammed the PTI-led Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government, accusing it of leaving the province “in the stone age” while Punjab pursues its technology-driven development initiatives.
Addressing a laptop distribution ceremony at a university in Gujrat, Maryam compared what she described as Punjab’s forward-looking policies with KP’s stagnation, saying Punjab students now benefit from Honhaar scholarships, laptop schemes, Parwaz card, green buses and technical training programmes.
“So there is Honhaar here, and incentives there, but there is nothing to celebrate,” she said, adding that she was deeply troubled by the fact that “people in KP were still living in the Stone Age.”
Maryam argued that the PTI government, which she said had ruled KP for 13 years, had failed to introduce meaningful development initiatives.
“They don’t know what development is. They don’t realize that Honhaar scholarships also exist if you don’t have the necessary resources for your child’s studies,” she said.
“They don’t know that you need to have a gadget, a laptop, an iPad or a computer in your hands if you want to meet global standards in today’s era.”
Referring indirectly to the PTI’s long tenure in the province, she remarked that the public there “doesn’t even know what development is”, quipping that the KP government’s response to every need was to provide “awareness”.
She further argued that the blockage of KP’s main roads does not affect Punjab’s economy but rather harms KP’s own economic activity.
During the event, Maryam played archived video clips of former Prime Minister Imran Khan from his tenure. In the footage, the PTI founder could be heard threatening to remove televisions and air conditioners from the prison cells of PML-N leaders.
Responding to this, Maryam said, “I swear by God that until today, neither I nor Nawaz Sharif nor Shehbaz Sharif have even thought of removing his air conditioning or turning off his food and television.”
