ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday expressed his firm resolve to end the sense of deprivation amongst the people of Balochistan by launching a series of development project and undo the neglect of decades towards the province.
‘”Ensuring complete peace, security, and socio-economic development for the people of Balochistan are the key priorities of my government,” he said while chairing here the second meeting of the National Development Council.
The meeting was attended by Federal Ministers Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Asad Umar, Mohammad Hammad Azhar, Ali Haider Zaidi, Omer Ayub Khan, Advisers Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh and Abdul Razak Dawood, Chief Minister Balochistan Jam Kamal Khan. Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Special Assistant Lt General (Retd) Asim Saleem Bajwa, DG ISI Lt General Faiz Hameed and other senior officials were also present on this occasion.
The prime minister said he was fully cognizant of the problems of the people of Balochistan and expressed commitment to turn around the situation by providing them relief and services in the best possible manner.
He said financial resources allocated for Balochistan in the past were never diverted towards the development of the province.
The prime minister said such state of affairs led to dismal development in the province and was a cause of sense of deprivation among its people.
The meeting reviewed in detail several projects related to the national development agenda. These included provision of means of communications in the remote areas of Balochistan, better facilities for irrigation, agriculture, energy and setting up of barter markets to attain optimal benefit from the Gwadar Port. Imran Khan said the development of Gwadar Port would be a game changer for not only the people of Balochistan, but also for the entire region. He said it was vital that there was complete focus on infrastructure development; provision of employment for the youth, and completion of road networks so that as to benefit from the completion of the Gwadar Port and the CPEC.
In this regard, the prime minister constituted a committee comprising Minister for Planning Asad Umar, Adviser on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh and Chief Minister Balochistan Jam Kamal that would submit a report to him on the priority areas for development; particularly in communications, agriculture, energy and other important sectors. The meeting also gave approval for the setting up of Balochistan Mineral Exploration Company that would work for better utilisation of the mineral resources of Balochistan and boost exploration activities.
