LAHORE: Chief Minister Balochistan Dr Abdul Malik Baloch said on Sunday that conflicts between the province as well as issues pertaining to Pak China Economic Corridor Project (PCEC) could be resolved in an amicable manner through political dialogue.
Briefing the media here, the chief minister said that PCEC was not merely a route but a vital project of roads, rail infrastructure, energy and industrial zones, adding that, “We all will have to sit together to remove differences over the vital developmental project in the best national interests”.
To a question, Dr Baloch said the provincial government succeeded to bring 13 high profile cases including Quetta blasts and attack on Quaid-e-Azam Residency in Ziyarat to their logical end while only one case of suicide attack on JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman was under way.
To another question about execution of mineral and ore projects including Sandak through foreign companies, he expressed the resolve that he would not let the precious Balochistan resources to be looted.
However, any company or a country including western states USA, Australia or China whoever comes up with a better scheme that ensured betterment of the people of Balochistan and Pakistan would be awarded the contract of the respective projects, he added.
The chief minister said that overall peace prevailed in 30 out of the total 32 districts of Balochistan while there were various conflicts in districts of Turbat and Panjgor and he had recently managed to bring these districts from B to A areas.
The provincial government was continuing with hectic efforts to weed out the menace of hatred, extremism and conflicts to bring Balochistan at par with other provinces of the country, he maintained.
He said that his government inherited problems of law and order, Baloch militancy, religious extremism and tribal conflicts.
His government managed to scale down the crime rate up to 40 per cent through elimination of political interference in police department, training of levies forces on modern lines and with better coordination of Pakistan Army and the FC, he added.
The chief minister said that now the crimes like kidnapping for ransom and target killing had substantially reduced.
Dr Malik Baloch said another major challenge in the province was poverty and illiteracy for which the government raised the education sector budget from four per cent to 24 per cent in two years besides establishing three medical colleges.
Another five universities were being set up in the province with the help of HEC and the federal government, he said asserting that for the first time in Balochistan 5,000 teachers were being inducted through NTS tests.
The CM mentioned that the provincial government launched a successful campaign of “Good Bye to Cheating” to improve quality of education. The government, he said also succeeded to enroll up to 300,000 out of school children.
The News International Pak
