The Chief Minister of Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar inaugurated the on Sunday while PML-N leaders orchestrated a separate ceremony for the project at Jain Mandir.
CPEC Authority chairman Retired Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa and the Chinese delegation were also actively involved in the ceremony led by the CM, who added that CPEC would further strengthen Pak-China bilateral relations.
PML-N leaders, including former Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique and former Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq also reached the site along with party workers to celebrate the inauguration, claiming that the project was the creation of Shehbaz Shairf, who had been detained under false accusations.
“Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shahbaz are paying a price of introducing and completing this mega train project for the people of Lahore. Look at them. They are in Kot Lakhpat Jail. And Ahad Cheema (the former LDA DG), who had a lead role in executing this project, is in the Camp Jail. We too spent time in jail for serving the people of Lahore,” said Khawaja Saad Rafique
“Due to the massive delay caused by retired Justice Saqib Nisar, this country faced billions of rupees loss. You (Mr Nisar) misused your powers. You didn’t do justice. You disgraced the people,” he added.
In response to PML-N’s remarks, the Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz said that CPEC was the project of the people of Pakistan as a whole and not of any specific party.
The Orange line is the first of the three proposed rail lines proposed for the Lahore Metro, financed by both the governments of Pakistan and China as part of the wider China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
