Chief minister-designate Shahbaz Sharif on Wednesday urged overseas Pakistanis to set aside their differences regarding the elections.
“I thank the overseas Pakistani community for voting for the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz in the general elections,” Sharif said to a delegation of UK-based Pakistanis who called on him in London.
“Many overseas Pakistanis travelled to their hometown to vote PML-N. Millions of others across the world prayed for our success,” he said.
Sharif said it was heart warming to see that supporters of other political parties had also declared PML-N’s victory a good omen for Pakistan.
He said overseas Pakistanis contributed as much as $13 billion to Pakistan’s economy annually. “We will create special investment packages in consultation with financial institutions,” he said.
At least 50 per cent of the annual remittances would be channelised towards productive investment.
Sharif said the PML-N would initiate a bank-loans-scheme for new expatriates to start small to medium businesses.
“Protection of property against land grabbers will also be ensured,” he said.
Speaking to a TV channel, Sharif said international institutions had appreciated the development schemes initiated by the previous PML-N government in the Punjab.
It was the only provincial government that had invited Transparency International to evaluate its projects, he said. It had declared them free of corruption, he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 30th, 2013.