Rs50b farm package demanded from Centre

Minister pins hope on agricultural revolution

QUETTA:

Fueling hopes for an agricultural revolution in the province, Balochistan Agricultural Minister Mir Asadullah Baloch on Monday demanded that the Centre announce an agricultural package worth Rs50 billion. Addressing a function of the Balochistan Agriculture Officers Association’s Aleppo community, Baloch, who is also the general secretary of Balochistan Nataional Party (Awaami), termed the land of Balochistan as their mother, urging everyone to love and cherish it.

“If this passion is in everyone's heart then the day is not far when Balochistan will be counted among the developed areas,” he said. “The future of this country is democracy, not martial law. In a democratic process, the opinion of the people must be respected.” He added that those who parachute into the country cannot protect the interests of the country and the nation. "To make the country and the nation prosperous, we must all work together, for which we must think beyond nationality, lust and religion,” the agriculture minister said.

“The tragedy of our country is that despite the passage of 74 years, we are not one nation and are still divided into Punjabi, Balochi, Pashtun, Sindhi nation.” Baloch further said some of the responsibilities also belong to the masterminds and strategists for running the country but injustice continues till date and problems are arising due to lack of justice. "They did not know how to make me a friend and their style of silencing the people is like Hitler. If you remove your people, it will create a vacuum and people will start hating the state,” he said, adding that those who are trying to misrepresent the face of Balochistan at the national and international level will never succeed in their nefarious designs because we are determined.

"We will present the positive face of Balochistan to the world and that is why we have brought a change due to which differences arose and we were forced to remove them," the agriculture minister added. Hailing the leadership of Chief Minister Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo, Baloch expressed hope that he will formulate policies in the wider interest of the province and the people which will develop the province and improve the living standards of the people.