LAHORE - Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said that the entire nation is upset due to Asif Zardari and his corrupt cronies.
“The loadshedding has ruined the country whereas Ali Baba and Forty Thieves sitting in air-conditioned palaces of Islamabad are destroying the country’s economy. Until and unless Ali Baba and Forty Thieves are removed, loadshedding cannot come to an end”, he said while addressing a public rally taken out against loadshedding on Multan Road Thokar Niaz Beg on Sunday.
Men, women and children in a large number attended the rally and raised slogans for ending loadshedding.
Addressing the rally, Shahbaz Sharif said the circular debt had reached 400 billion rupees due to corruption of Ali Baba and Forty Thieves which was a proof of the fact that the looters sitting in Islamabad had been plundering the dues of electricity and oil supplying companies and their agents had been involved in the theft of electricity and gas. He said the problem of shortage of electricity could be resolved overnight if the amount of corruption deposited in Switzerland was returned, the loans written off on political grounds were paid and the billions of rupees looted in fertilizer sector were recovered.
The chief minister said it was ironical that 700 MW electricity of Punjab’s share had been snatched. He said these people wanted to make Punjab an orphan but he made it clear that Punjab would not become an orphan as brave people live here.
“On the one hand an orphan girl loses her life in a hospital due to financial constraints but on the other side the convicted Prime Minister and President Zardari spend crores of rupees on useless visits to London and America and stay in luxurious hotels”, he held.
The CM said labourers, farmers, students, traders, industrialists and people were deprived of electricity and economy was being ruined. “Loadshedding is terrorism which is destroying the economy”, he further remarked.  He asked the people to support Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and PML-N for saving the country.
Meanwhile, Shahbaz Sharif said the corrupt mafia in Islamabad had made the life of people miserable through loadshedding and other problems, and while the people are distressed, the rulers are content to watch their sufferings and hardships from air-conditioned rooms.
He was talking to media persons in his tent office at Minar-e-Pakistan on Sunday. He said the protest of the people against protracted loadshedding was justified and he fully supported them and was even ready to sacrifice his life for the masses. He said that thieves and dacoits who had created problems for the people would be made to flee.
Shahbaz Sharif further stated that the rulers were wrong if they thought they could resolve the issue of circular debt by printing more currency notes. He said that people could see through their designs and will reject this “favour”. He was of the view that masses were are well aware of the fact that the corrupt rulers were the main cause of their problems.
 and want to get rid of these looters and plunderers. He said that the convicted prime minister had promised in the energy conference held on April 09 in the provincial metropolis that a unified loadshedding schedule will be enforced throughout the country but this decision had not been implemented. He said a discriminatory attitude was being shown to Punjab regarding loadshedding which could not be tolerated any longer.
Answering a question, he said that the rulers who did not respect the decisions of the courts and had little realisation of the problems of the masses could go to any extent.
Replying to another question about his travel in public transport, he said that Punjab government had launched an excellent bus service for providing modern, comfortable and affordable transport facilities to the masses.