SUKKUR: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said the provincial government of the Pakistan Peoples Party has given nothing to the people of Sindh except poverty, hunger and unemployment.

Speaking at a rally organised by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz in Jacobabad, he said that most roads and streets in Sindh were in bad shape and thatin the next general elections people would vote on the basis of performanceof parties and not on their rhetoric.

`I want to ask the Sindh government as to what they have given to the people of their province,` said Mr Sharif.

He said that everyone could see piles, even mounds, of waste material in Karachi. The thoroughfares in the city were fast turning into dirt roads but the provincial government was doing nothing to bring about improvements.

Mr Sharif said the metropolis was in the grip of terrorism and chaos when he came to power after the 2013 elections. Peace was restored to the city only after the Rangers launched an operation there.

The prime minister said the country`s economy and that of the province began to improve once stability was restored in the provincial capital. Itwas the governments` responsibility to bring about even more improvements.

Factories, he said, would be established in Sindh that would be run on coal. And to address the sense of alienation and f rustration among the people of Sindh, high-quality educational institutions and medical centres would be set up in the province.

Clean drinking water, he said, was not being supplied to people but they hardly held protests over the problem because they were more worried about making their ends meet.

The rate of unemployment and the number of people falling below the poverty line were increasing in the province. This needed to be changed.

The kind of development taking place in Islamabad, Lahore and even Peshawar should also take place inJacobabad, he said. It is now the 21st century `but Jacobabad looks as it looked some 100 years ago`.

On the occasion, Mr Sharif announced a development package of Rs1 billion for Jacobabad. The money would be spent on providing clean drinking water to its people and building healthcare centres and roads.

The projects would be carried out by chairmanof the districtcouncil,inconsultation with PML-N leader Muhammad Aslam Abro.

Mr Sharif announced that a modern vocational training centre would be set up for women in the city, 100 transformers would be installed and old water and gas pipelines would be replaced with new ones. He also announced the launch of the health card scheme for the people of the city.Speaking at the rally, Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafiq said the PPP had been winning the elections by using the names of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto and misusing the Sindh card, but had proceeded to rob the people instead of serving them.

He said he respected Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah but added that the CM was trying to appease PPP chairman Asif Ali Zardari by getting gas supply for a power plant in Nooriabad whose 51 per cent shares were owned by the former president.

Prominent among the other leaders who attended the PML-N rally were Ellahi Bux Soomro, Nihal Hashmi, Senator Raheela Gul Magsi, Marvi Memon, Saleem Zia, Mir Asghar Panhwar and Sardar Sajjad Buledi.Speaking at the rally, Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafiq said the PPP had been winning the elections by using the names of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto and misusing the Sindh card, but had proceeded to rob the people instead of serving them.

He said he respected Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah but added that the CM was trying to appease PPP chairman Asif Ali Zardari by getting gas supply for a power plant in Nooriabad whose 51 per cent shares were owned by the former president.

Prominent among the other leaders who attended the PML-N rally were Ellahi Bux Soomro, Nihal Hashmi, Senator Raheela Gul Magsi, Marvi Memon, Saleem Zia, Mir Asghar Panhwar and Sardar Sajjad Buledi.