Regular monitoring: PM concedes slow work on Balochistan package

Gilani says FC replacing army in areas where people object to military presence.

QUETTA:

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has said that he will visit Quetta every month to ensure implementation of each and every project announced under the government’s Aghaz-e-Huqooq-e-Balochistan package.

“I observed that although many projects have been initiated in Balochistan, particularly for infrastructure building and construction of highways, all are incomplete. Now, we will ensure that they are completed and I will inaugurate them along with the Balochistan chief minister,” Gilani told reporters at the Quetta Airport before departing for Islamabad.

“Promises made under the package will be fulfilled in letter and spirit. Young Baloch have been provided 5,000 jobs while 20,000 more jobs will be provided by the federal government,” he said.

The much-celebrated package, which was approved by parliament on November 23, 2009, has made little progress. According to an establishment division report, since March, the government has only been able to implement 15 of 61 proposals.

Law and order

“You can see that the army is returning and the Frontier Corps is replacing them in areas where people have objected to army presence,” Gilani said. A military drawdown has begun in the province, and army chief General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani had said in April that all army contingents will return to the barracks in two months.



Published in The Express Tribune, June 7th, 2011.