QUETTA - Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar on Tuesday said that the government had taken multiple initiatives to bring about reforms in bureaucracy in order to improve overall governance structure of Balochistan province.
Addressing a press conference here, the PM said the province had some chronic and complex issues which ought to be resolved by deputing a blend of upright and hard-working bureaucrats from civil service as well as from the provincial structure.
“Our issues are linked with the bad governance, that had been badly affecting the performance of the province for the last few decades,” he said. On the request of the Balochistan government, he deputed a competent bureaucrat Shakeel Qadir Khan along with a team, to ensure meritocracy and to streamline the overall structure of bureaucracy.
He said he specifically instructed the team to fully support the Chief Minister and the provincial government in this regard. PM Kakar said there was an axis of some corrupt bureaucrats and other stakeholders who had crumpled the whole province, thus adversely affecting the national economy.
He hoped that the incoming elected government would also remain vigilant in this regard and would continue the process of reforms in future.
To a question regarding reservations of the nationalist parties to hold free and fair elections in the province, the prime minister said it was just a routine matter as these parties had something to say to their voters.
Reiterating the government’s resolve to hold free and fair elections across the country, he said the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) would perform its duty to conduct the elections in an appropriate way.
“It is our task that we run the day-to-day affairs of the government, implement the state affairs, and then conduct the election,” he said.
Responding to a question about the projects under China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the prime minister said the caretaker setup did not have the mandate to initiate new projects, however he was trying his best to allocate funds for the Quetta-Khuzdar dual carriageway section. He hoped to get the finances for project by the next month. He said that the children should be given skilled training and the government was ready to provide thousands of skilled trainings.
To another question about complaints of some aspirants, he said the government would never allow some people to take bribes for giving government jobs adding recent posts announced in the province had been, cancelled.
As regards, the Internet service in Balochistan, the prime minister said this would be resolved in a month or two after completing the project of the firewall. Asked if he would join any political party after his tenure, he said he had no intention to join any political entity.
PM Kakar informed the Pinjra Pull would be operational by the end of February or early March 2024.
To another question, he said the Balochistan province had been given the exemption from the government’s recent decision to curtail gas supply.
PROPERLY EDUCATED PEOPLE CAN TRANSFORM SOCIETY: PM
Meanwhile, during an interaction with the students of different universities of the Balochistan province, the PM pointed out the seriousness of out-of-school children issue which warranted collective efforts for its redressal as properly educated people could transform a human society.
He said in the future, no society would be able to exist without education and knowledge, and stressed that students should have realization for the changes shaping the human societies. He said that the out-of-school children issue was a social issue which had two aspects and according to his view, they required to ponder as to what steps should be taken to make the education accessible to such kids.
He stressed upon utilization of existing infrastructure and enhancement of teachers’ capacity building, besides increasing the outreach of education.
The prime minister suggested that about 10 million Pakistani diaspora, living in different parts of the globe, could play their part in overcoming the out-of-school children issue. If they gave commitment to educate at least five children with their minimum donation, that amount could prove huge for catering to the needs the uneducated children. With such initiative, the other countries and stakeholders would look towards the move as positive and would be supplementing in those efforts, he opined.
The caretaker prime minister, to another query, replied that career counselling should be introduced at universities, keeping in view the contemporary needs of the local industry and particularly in the region, and cited the massive construction work being undertaken in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia which required skilled manpower.
He also expressed the hope that the upcoming government would focus and improve the skill development capacity of the people by taking different steps. The caretaker prime minister, referring to the trade and economic potential of the region, said trillions of dollars trade was expected in the region. For example, the member states of Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) had the population of about 500 million, which meant about half of the quarter of world’s population resided there which gave it a central position in the world.
To a question, he opined that political stability would be achieved after the upcoming parliaments completed their respective stints. The democratic system would settle down and amplify the economic strength in future, he said, adding the functional democracy was linked with the economic strength.
He also underscored the significance of the efficient system for collecting and spending taxes. The prime minister expressed the optimism that he was very much hopeful that different challenges faced by the country would be addressed in a gradual and rational manner, and the students would be the main ingredients in the achievement of those goals.