Renewing vows: ‘Lawbreakers in G-B will be dealt with strictly’

CM was speaking at rally organised on 13th death anniversary of his brother

GILGIT: Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Minister Hafeezur Rahman vowed to protect China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), saying lawbreakers would be dealt with strictly.

Addressing a rally organised on Monday to mark the 13th death anniversary of Saifur Rahman, the CM said people in G-B would benefit immensely from CPEC where it passes through the region. Saifur Rahman, the then adviser for education and also the brother of Hafeez, was shot dead by a militant for advocating sectarian peace in March 2003. He was also the first president of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz in G-B.

“Nawaz Sharif’s policy is development-oriented and it can’t be achieved without peace,” Hafeez told the rally, which was attended by PML-N workers and the public. Federal Minister for G-B and AJK Barjees Tahir was also present in.



Listing achievements

“When we assumed government last year, there were more than 280 fugitives involved in heinous crimes,” said the chief minister. “Most of them were arrested and only 60 of them remain at large now.” He said National Accountability Bureau and the police have been made independent.

Speaking about projects undertaken by his government, Hafeez said, “Work on the 20 megawatt (MW) Hainzal Hydropower Project and 8MW Sarkarkoi Power Project will start soon” as the projects recently got approved. He added outages would decrease in G-B from 20 hours to six hours in 2017 as more power will be added to the grid by then.

According to Hafeez, recruitment on over 900 posts from grade-16 to 18 would be held under the Federal Public Service Commission. Tahir, who reached from Islamabad to attend the rally, said work on the Rs40 billion Jaglote-Skardu Road project would start soon as process of tenders was complete. Tahir believed CPEC would change the fate of G-B, “just as it is expected to do in the rest of the country”.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 30^th,  2016.