Senior Vice President and Chief Organiser Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Maryam Nawaz on Monday stressed the need for maximum participation of the youth in the decision-making process at national level, saying that the future of the country was linked with the young generation.

Addressing the party’s ‘Young Leaguers’ ceremony here, she regretted that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan was misguiding the youth and using them for negative activities. However, she added, that the PML-N was making the youth constructive part of society and giving them special role in the country’s progress and development.

She said that a so-called leader, who could not own his daughter and who was unable to share the grief of deceased party worker Zille Shah, how he would protect the rights of the youth of the country. Zille Shah was a political worker and she (Maryam) had respect for every political worker, the PML-N leader added. It was painful that the body was abandoned at the hospital, she said adding that the PTI chief did not spare the body of his worker, who sacrificed his life for the party, and played politics over it and tried to get political mileage out of his death.

Maryam said that the political parties should not raise hollow slogans like the PTI was doing, but take practical steps to bring the youth into the mainstream. She said that the youth should have a sizable representation in the parliament and all political parties should take steps in this connection. Political discussion was imperative in society and taking the youth on board was crucial, as they were major stakeholder of the development process in the country.

She said the performance of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), led by Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, was self-evident, as a number of initiatives were taken to make the youth self-dependent during the party rule, besides providing them with all facilities in the education sector.

Launching of the Punjab Education Endowment Fund was a historic step of Shehbaz Sharif in the Punjab province under which monthly stipends were given to the deserving bright students besides provision of local and international scholarships.

Launching of the laptop scheme was also a flagship initiative of the PML-N, which enabled the bright students to connect the world through internet. She said that the youth loans scheme was PML-N’s vision to provide financial assistance to the educated youth so that they could establish their own businesses besides extending existing setup to make the youth part of economic activity in the country.

During the previous PML-N tenure, starting in 2013, she said that huge foreign investment came in the country which boosted economic activities, whereas several development projects were launched under the leadership of Muhammad Nawaz Sharif.

Prices of the commodities remained under control during the PML-N government and people were happy with the government, she said adding that the PML-N also signed an IMF deal, but it not only completed it successfully but also kept the prices of the commodities under control. On the other hand, she added that the deal, signed by the “corrupt and incompetent PTI government” was never implemented and it caused inflation in the country.

The PML-N left the government in 2018 with growth rate at 6 per cent, while during its four-year rule, the PTI rolled back the economic progress and brought the GDP to around 2 per cent.

She said that the PML-N was determined to bring the youth into the mainstream so that they could become an active part of the country’s future. The youth should be engaged in technical trainings as it was an era of IT. The youth only needed guidance, otherwise they were capable enough to prove themselves in the world.

On the other hand, she said that the PTI, self claimant of the youth representing party was misusing the youth to achieve its political agendas. The PTI was the only party which was playing with the sentiments of the youth as the party had always exploited them through rosy slogans. Giving the youth a right direction and guidance was a responsibility of the leadership, she added.

Only a daring and committed leader like Muhammad Nawaz Sharif could steer the country out of challenges. He served the country in the best way whenever he was given an opportunity by the people of Pakistan.

The PTI government made the worst victimisation of the PML-N leadership and fabricated cases were registered against them. The entire party leadership faced the cases and appeared in courts; however, nothing was proved against any of the PML-N leader, she added.

She asked the youth to think wisely before becoming part of such a party which was staging activities just to create unrest and achieve personal goals, as they have no agenda for the youth.

The four-year government of the PTI was full of corrupt practices and mismanagement as Imran Khan and his wife committed money laundering by selling Toshakhana gifts abroad.

Maryam Nawaz said that politics of the PTI was all about levelling baseless accusations against the opponents. The PTI was running malicious campaign on the social media against her. It was very unfortunate that the PTI, instead of making efforts to resolve the real national issues, was doing dirty politics even on the party workers’ dead bodies.

Maryam Nawaz said that Pakistan was capable enough to tackle any external threat; however the country was facing internal threats only as political polarisation was a major threat the country was facing right now.

She announced relaunch of the Muslim Student Federation (MSF) in educational institutions to make the youth vibrant part of political activities besides preparing them for the future politics.