ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday told the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to end its long march and sit-ins before seeking dialogue, warning that continued agitation could put the country’s economic recovery at risk and undermine its standing abroad.
“End your long marches and sit-ins. Once you end them, we will certainly sit down with you and talk,” the prime minister said, making it clear that the government would not negotiate under pressure from street agitation.
Addressing the groundbreaking ceremony of the Kashmir Chowk Underpass, Sharif accused the PTI of reverting to its “politics of sit-ins and long marches” despite what he described as repeated government efforts to engage the opposition in dialogue.
He said a joint committee of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) had already held negotiations with the opposition, but the process collapsed after the PTI sought last-minute changes to an agreed draft.
He said the consequences of renewed agitation would ultimately be borne by the economy.
He asked what would happen if workers, engineers and other employees were unable to reach factories and offices on time.
“Whose loss is it? It is the loss of this nation. Your economy will be the primary target,” he warned, saying protests could disrupt exports, imports and manufacturing.
He said the government had restored macroeconomic stability and was pursuing growth, citing improved exports, remittances and industrial output. Undermining these gains, he warned, would amount to hostility towards the state.
“We will not allow this to happen. The law will take its course,” he declared, adding that protecting citizens’ lives and property was the government’s responsibility.
The Kashmir Chowk Underpass plan is a Rs1.4 billion project aimed at easing one of the busiest traffic bottlenecks between Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
According to officials, the project’s original PC-1 estimate stood at Rs1.6billion, while the contract was awarded for Rs1.4billion. The underpass will have four slip roads and is designed to ease congestion at an intersection handling around 107,000 vehicles a day, with traffic becoming particularly difficult during VIP movements.
Sharif praised Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and his team for setting a one-month completion target for the project.
Turning the occasion towards Kashmir, he said the fact that the intersection was named Kashmir Chowk carried symbolic significance and expressed hope that the milestone would one day extend to Srinagar after the people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) achieved their “inalienable right to freedom”.
Interior Minister Naqvi said Kashmir Chowk underpass and Expressway service-road projects would cut travelling time between Islamabad and Rawalpindi from around 30 minutes to between 16 and 18 minutes.
Naqvi said Islamabad would go plastic-free and cashless by year-end. He said F-9 Park was being upgraded along the lines of London’s Hyde Park, while a safari park touted as Asia’s largest and another the size of F-9 Park were also planned.
He added that the complete digitalisation of Islamabad’s land records would also be completed by the end of the year.
Taking a direct swipe at the PTI, Naqvi urged citizens to judge their elected representatives by whether they were working for public welfare or pursuing what he called “negative politics”.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026