Gilgit-Baltistan: CM, governor to receive bullet proof vehicles

GILGIT:

The government is planning to purchase bullet proof vehicles for the Gilgit-Baltistan chief minister and governor, officials told The Express Tribune on Saturday.

“A plan is afoot in this regard and if implemented, the purchase will cost Rs150 million,” an official in the G-B government, while requesting anonymity, told The Express Tribune.

He confirmed that Chief Minister Mehdi Shah and Governor Pir Karam Ali would be the beneficiaries of the scheme.

Another official said that following a wave of terrorism in the country and sectarian skirmishes in G-B, the government decided “to do the needful in time”.

While the region has already spent millions of rupees on internal security measures, the purchase in question has drawn severe criticism from opposition leaders.

The PML-N provincial president Hafizur Rehman said that the chief minister should focus on people’s issues and spend money on the poor to help uplift their standard of living.

“The government isn’t serious in terms of settling the issues disrupting peace in the region,” said the PML-N chief, adding that the government should implement the recommendations of the All Parties Conference proposed this year.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 6^th, 2011.