MANSEHRA: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz central vice-president Sardar Mohammad Yusuf on Saturday said if his party came to power, the people of Balakot and Kaghan here would get electricity free of charge.

“The Suki Kanari hydropower project is near completion, so if people vote us [PML-N] to power, we will provide free electricity to Balakot and here,” Mr Yusuf told a public meeting in Kaghan.

Former federal minister Qasim Shah and PML-N election candidate for PK-36 Mansehra-I Junaid Qasim were also in attendance.

Mr Yusuf said the Suki Kanari project being executed in Kaghan under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor initiative would employ 5,000 locals.

Leader insists Nawaz to win Mansehra’s NA-36 seat

He said as the prime minister, PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif annexed the Suki Kanari project with the CPEC.

The PML-N leader claimed that Mr Sharif would win the NA-15 seat by a big margin to become the prime minister for a record fourth time.

Mr Yusuf, who is contesting election in NA-14 as the PML-N’s nominee, criticised the last PTI government for scrapping the gas supply project for Balakot that was approved by Mr Sharif in 2013.

He said the PML-N government would revive the gas project to check deforestation in the region.

PML-N election candidate for PK-36 Mansehra-I Junaid Qasim, who was also in attendance, said his party would win election in the province, especially Mansehra district.

Mansehra has two seats in the National Assembly and five in the provincial assembly.

Meanwhile, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl deputy emir in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Hidayatullah Shah on Saturday said nobody from within the party should challenge election nominations by their leader, Maulana Fazlur Rehman.

“We have fielded the strongest candidates across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including Mufti Kifayatullah in NA-15 against Nawaz Sharif. They all were picked by the party’s parliamentary board led by Maulana Fazl,” Mr Shah told the JUI-F election candidates here.

He asked all those, who resigned from the party’s office-bearers in five union councils to protest the denial of election ticket to former MPA Mufti Kifayatullah in PK-38 Mansehra-III, to continue holding their respective offices.

“We won’t accept your resignation. We understand you’ve served the party and people sincerely and hope you’ll continue doing so,” he said.

The JUI-F leader said the party was optimistic about forming the next government in the province after sweeping the Feb 8 election.

He said his party had the visionary leadership to steer the country out of the current economic and political crises.

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2024