Political stew: Sit-ins stopped Chinese investment, says Mashhood

Minister says disbursements to flood victims to start on Saturday

LAHORE:

Anti-democratic forces behind the sit-ins in Islamabad have been exposed, Law Minister Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan said on Thursday.

He said the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf had a single point agenda, which was to derail the democratic system. Khan said the country was passing through its most challenging moments in history and ensuring political stability was the key to handling it.

He said the government believed in democracy and would continue to fight for it.

Now that the powers behind the sit-ins have been exposed, the people know better than to rally behind Imran Khan, he said.

Mashhood said the PTI’s sit-in was unconstitutional. It had crippled the country’s economy and diverted a lot of foreign investment to neighbouring countries. He said it was Khan’s fault that the Chinese prime minister had cancelled his visit to Pakistan.

“Had he come here, we would be looking at massive Chinese investment in the country,” he said. “We can’t afford protests.” The proper platform to ask for electoral reform or amendments to the Constitution was the parliament, he said. The PTI had done nothing but hold protests.

The minister said dozens of mega projects have been completed in the province and others were nearing completion.

“The government is committed to eliminating load-shedding from the country in the next three to four years. We are working on several energy projects with assistance from foreign companies,” he said.

All resources to be used to help flood victims

The government will utilise all resources at its disposal for the rehabilitation of the flood-affected people, Cabinet Committee on Flood Relief Chairman Col (r) Shuja Khanzada said on Thursday.

He was presiding over a meeting at Civil Secretariat. The meeting reviewed the relief and rehabilitation activities being carried out in the flood-hit areas.

Officials of Agriculture, Irrigation, Food, Metrological departments and Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) presented performance reports.

The committee expressed its satisfaction and issued certain instructions for improvement.

Later, Khanzada talked to the DCOs of various districts through video link and reviewed the rehabilitation work. Talking to the DCOs of Jhang and Multan, Khanzada assured them that the government would continue to extend full cooperation to the district officers.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 26^th, 2014.