- Punjab CM speaks to participants of 27th National Security Workshop of the NDU, reaffirms Punjab will be corruption-free within five years
- Says political ethics demand proving every accusation, linking governance revival to merit, accountability and zero recommendations
- Says Punjab leading in smog control, environmental protection and women’s leadership and highlights major welfare, health and infrastructure projects
- Emphasizes massive development push underway with trillions in projects, no corruption complaints
LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz on Saturday said that political ethics must be rooted in accountability, declaring that “if you level an accusation, you must prove it,” as she vowed to counter abuse and allegations with a “performance narrative” and reaffirmed her government’s pledge to make Punjab corruption-free within five years.
Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz was speaking to participants of the 27th National Security Workshop of the National Defence University, who called on her at the Chief Minister’s Office, according to a statement issued by the Punjab DGPR on Saturday.
The chief minister warmly welcomed the NDU delegation and apprised them of the Punjab government’s public-welfare projects and initiatives. She also responded to their questions, as the participants appreciated the government’s ongoing welfare measures.
CM Maryam Nawaz said that after the success of Operation “Banyanum Marsoos”, Pakistan is respected everywhere in the world. She said much had already been achieved in Punjab, and more was under way, though challenges persisted due to unfair resource distribution.
The Punjab CM said that in the absence of accountability, performance in the public sector becomes zero. She said Punjab was still dealing with the effects of floods, and that not only millions of people but also livestock were saved. Timely medical assistance, she added, helps prevent the spread of infectious diseases.
She said climate change was a stark reality and Pakistan’s improvement efforts had earned international appreciation. In Punjab, she added, tireless efforts were made to control smog. Smog-gun sprays, restrictions on burning crop residues and other interventions had helped reduce pollution impact. She noted that cross-border crop burning continued to affect Lahore’s air quality, while monitoring had improved due to the Environment Force and zigzag kiln technology. Digital surveillance now instantly identifies black-smoke emissions.
The Punjab CM said no good governance was possible if decisions were dictated by fear of losing votes, adding that anti-encroachment operations often angered the public but had to be carried out. Merit and rejection of political recommendations, she stressed, were her administration’s guiding principles. No recruitment, she said, had been made on political grounds, and she was ready to resign if anyone proved she recommended a candidate. While low-level corruption was difficult to eliminate entirely, she asserted that top-tier corruption was no longer possible. For the first time in history, women ministers, secretaries, commissioners, DCs and DPOs were working across Punjab.
She said Maryam Aurangzeb, Uzma Bukhari, Sania Ashiq and Salmi Butt were working hard and delivering effectively. Merit, transparency, and timely decision-making, she said, were the cornerstones of good governance—and timely decision-making required both courage and competence.
CM Maryam Nawaz said six-hour marathon sessions were being held with ministers and secretaries to evaluate departmental performance. She said criticism over not buying wheat was misplaced, as official procurement only benefited middlemen, not farmers. Punjab was the only province where prices of bread, flour and wheat had not increased. Good governance, she said, was impossible without a sense of accountability and responsibility. Inflation had fallen from 40 percent to 4 percent, and with cheaper vegetables, bread and flour, the kitchen of a poor family had become sustainable. She added that fear and anger were not tools of governance and that the bureaucracy had shown positive cooperation. She said it was not her practice to shift blame for failures onto bureaucrats.
She said 1,650 roads spanning 30,000 kilometres were being constructed across Punjab, and billions of rupees had been saved through e-tendering. She cited an instance where even the wife of a journalist critical of the government admitted that she “felt safe in Maryam Nawaz’s Punjab.” She noted that every e-bus was equipped with wheelchairs for persons with disabilities.
The Punjab CM said state-of-the-art burn and orthopedic hospitals were being built in Punjab, along with the country’s first government cancer hospital. First-stage cancer treatment, she said, was already being conducted through co-ablation technology.
She said dozens of lives had been saved through Golden Hour transfers using the air ambulance service, including a South Punjab woman who fell from a roof. A heart-surgery card project had been launched for 15,000 children awaiting operations, with 7,000 surgeries completed. A 1,000-bed cardiology hospital was also under construction to serve children from across Pakistan.
She said agriculture was being fully mechanized, and three lakh cattle had been added to the sector for the first time to strengthen livestock. She said she was mocked for personally inspecting tandoors but insisted officials could not assess real issues without leaving their offices. Millions of people and animals trapped in floods were rescued using thermal-imaging drone cameras.
She said the Lahore Development Plan and Punjab Development Programme would transform cities and villages. The world’s largest waste-management programme had been launched in Punjab, and sanitation services were being mechanized. Education, she said, establishes true equality, and men must help and encourage women to study.
She said women unable to leave their homes were being provided business opportunities at home. CM Maryam Nawaz said creating more provinces would only deepen divisions. Punjab, she noted, was the only province actively improving environmental protection. Economic zones and industrial estates had been opened to investors, and free land could be offered if needed to boost investment. The Garment City Plug-and-Play project, she added, was complete and would launch soon. Punjab currently had 2,400 MW of electricity, and she aimed to bring the cost down to Rs16–17 per power unit.
She said projects worth trillions of rupees were under way without any corruption complaints, and Insha Allah, Punjab would become corruption-free within five years. She recalled the abuse hurled at her in political rallies and said she was jailed merely for standing by her father.
Today, she said, “There is a contradiction.” She said those who sought to remove her government knew that without discrediting the administration, “they would have no place,” adding that Pakistan and its people had been defamed globally.
