Summary Maryam Nawaz said terrorism has no classification, stressed policy continuity and claimed Punjab had improved security, governance and public welfare.
LAHORE (Dunya News) — Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has said that terrorism has no classification, stressing that anyone involved in terrorism is a terrorist regardless of where they come from.
Addressing participants of a leadership course, Maryam Nawaz said she was pleased to meet them and urged government officers to work with honesty and dedication. She said their services should be improved for the development of Pakistan and service to the people.
She said Pakistan had given a strong response to India in the war, while the armed forces were effectively fighting terrorism. She added that a new image of Pakistan was emerging in the world.
Maryam Nawaz said internal security would remain at risk until the internal system was put in order. “First of all, we are all Pakistanis,” she said, adding that some things were clear and required attention. She said the country’s decline began when continuity was lost, and that Pakistan could not progress without continuity in policies.
The chief minister said the writ of the state had been restored in the riverine areas. She said terrorists had damaged the beauty of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, adding that the situation in the province could be seen in comparison with its past. She said development was not possible without improvements in governance, performance and institutions.
She said the “dacoit culture” had been eliminated from Punjab and claimed that the crime rate in the province had declined by up to 70 percent. She reiterated that there would be no space for such a culture in Punjab.
Referring to Afghanistan, Maryam Nawaz said it was a neighbouring country, but if a neighbouring country used its territory or Pakistani territory against Pakistan, it could not be ignored.
The chief minister said there was a different mindset across the four provinces. She said terrorism was still not seen in Punjab in the same way, adding that the province had strengthened its security institutions and was monitoring them.
She said no one could claim that nothing could happen, adding that whenever reforms were introduced, it was necessary to explain their ideology. She said the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) Punjab was working effectively and that she regularly held meetings with inspectors general.
Maryam Nawaz said some people believed such work was not the chief minister’s responsibility, but for her, there was no no-go area. She said she took top-level decisions and that if leaders were afraid of making decisions, the country could not move forward.
She said the mafia culture and the culture in which people with money had influence had entered Punjab, but such a culture would no longer be visible in the province. She again claimed that crime in Punjab had declined by up to 70 percent.
The chief minister said that when she took the oath of office, Ramadan had arrived and she decided to provide a Ramadan package to poor people. She said she discovered that there was only one available database, which also contained the names of wealthy people.
She said she conducted her own research and created a new database, adding that the Punjab Socio-Economic Registry was established so that the government could know the number of people requiring support and understand their needs.
Maryam Nawaz said Punjab was now accessible with the click of a button. She said she had more than 100 projects underway and that around 130,000 houses had so far been completed in the province, while another 100,000 were under construction.
