Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday, vowing to bring the Balochistan province at par with other areas of the country, announced a mega development package for the provision of basic facilities like electricity, gas, water, internet etc in its nine southern districts.
“I have not come here on a political trip, or to ask for votes, or announce the projects for clapping. But as it is my faith that any country or nation cannot progress without taking care of the backward and downtrodden, I vow and will fully strive to bring this province at par with other areas of the country,” he said while addressing the elders of southern Balochistan here.
The prime minister said Balochistan lags behind due to the fact that Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had maximum population and the major political parties did not need votes of that province to form a government at federal level. Moreover, he said, unfortunately the political leaders from Balochistan in the past, like others throughout the country, also thought of their personal interests instead of thinking for the people of their respective areas. “There had been a prime minister and a president (in the past), who made more trips of London and Dubai respectively, than Balochistan,” Imran Khan remarked.
The prime minister said despite the reduction of Rs 900 billion in revenue collection due to closure of economic activities in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic, his government had come up with a development package for the southern Balochistan. Besides other things, he said,
some 500,000 people in the southern Balochistan would be provided with the facility of 4G Internet connectivity under the package. It would particularly benefit the youth in the era of Information Technology, he added.
The prime minister also announced the Naya Pakistan Housing Scheme for southern Balochistan. Under the scheme, he said, homeless, poor and low income salaried people would be provided with the financing facility at a mere 5% mark-up for the construction of their own houses. He said in the past Balochistan was not given the attention, it deserved. The main reason behind the success of Riasat-e-Madina, the first welfare state in the world, was improving the lot of poor and weaker segments of the society, he added.
Imran Khan said China, which pulled its 700 million people out of poverty in 30 years, launched the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project to ensure the development its less developed southern parts. The Chinese leadership realized the fact that any country could not progress through the development o
f a smaller segment of people or areas but only by taking the whole nation along, he added.
The prime minister said the country was like a home which could only prosper when all its inmates moved forward together. “The prime minister is like a father and he should strive to take all the people along,” he remarked.
He said CPEC, through its connectivity with Gwadar, would equally benefit Pakist
an and Balochistan. The prime minster said with China, having an annual trade of US$ 2,000 billion
and progressing fast to become a super power in the world, Pakistan was fortuna
te to have its connectivity for the benefit of whole country, including Balochistan.