Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Thursday expressed his gratitude to the bureaucracy for their support and guidance throughout the 16-month tenure, enabling the coalition government to sail through tough circumstances.

The prime minister, in his farewell interaction with the federal secretaries, said despite being hugely diverse, the 13-party coalition government ran the affairs smoothly with utmost cooperation and prudence, also setting an example of the practicability of the coalition government.

He said during the 16 months, the bureaucracy also faced some difficult scenarios but the will to do something productive for the people of Pakistan paved the way.

The prime minister lamented the past practice of unnecessarily criticizing and victimising competent officers which adversely impacted public service. He said just like the politicians, the officers were also victimised and their families harassed.

He said the civil service faced a severe blow during the devolution due to very reason, some of the youngsters also opted to join other services.

Mentioning the systemic delays in the execution of 10,000MW solar energy project, Prime Minister Shehbaz called for establishing robust systems to ensure the smooth execution of projects.

He said the incumbent government ensured the completion of various public welfare projects which had been halted by the previous government.

Recounting the achievements of his government, the prime minister said the signing of the IMF agreement was a great success otherwise the situation could have been disastrous for the country.

He said the credit for all the successes achieved by the government also went to the federal secretaries as they had been serving diligently during the challenging circumstances, particularly floods.

The prime minister said that his government played a constructive role to mend the ties with the friendly countries which were undermined by the previous government through the “worst strategy”. He said the previous government even hurled baseless allegations of corruption in the CPEC projects.

He said the projects being funded by foreign grants were also impeded by the previous government as they never wanted the respective government to claim the credit.

The prime minister thanked his special assistants, personal staff and media team for their cooperation and services.