Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that terrorism carried out with India’s support is a malicious attempt to undermine Balochistan’s development, prosperity and peace. However, he said Pakistan would confront the challenge of terrorism with full force.
Addressing participants of the Balochistan National Workshop, the prime minister said the Baloch and Pashtun people played a historic role at the time of Pakistan’s creation. Through their leadership, they chose to join Pakistan and strengthened national unity.
He said Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest province by area and that its development and prosperity are closely linked to the country’s brighter future. For this reason, the federal government is giving special attention to development, infrastructure, energy, agriculture and public welfare projects in the province.
Keeping this reality in view, Balochistan’s financial share was significantly increased under the 2010 National Finance Commission Award. He said all provinces had agreed to the decision, while Punjab voluntarily decided to provide an additional Rs11 billion annually. Since 2010, nearly Rs150 billion has been provided to Balochistan.
He stressed that this was not a favour to anyone, but a requirement of federal unity and brotherhood.
Shehbaz Sharif said billions of rupees worth of development projects were also launched for Balochistan during the governments of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. The present government has similarly prioritised meeting the province’s legitimate demands.
He said a project worth approximately Rs75 billion had been launched to convert Balochistan’s agricultural tube wells to solar energy. The federal government provided around Rs50 billion for the project to protect farmers from prolonged electricity outages.
The prime minister said the M-25 highway from Karachi to Chaman, which was previously known as the “bloody road” because of frequent accidents, was being converted into a modern expressway.
He said the project would cost around Rs300 billion. Once completed, it would improve travel facilities and help protect precious human lives. He expressed hope that the project would be completed within the next one-and-a-half to two years and that the highway would become a symbol of development, trade and peace.
He said Pakistan could achieve genuine progress only when all four provinces advanced at the same pace. If only one or two provinces developed while others remained behind, it could not be described as Pakistan’s progress.
Referring to recent terrorist attacks in Balochistan, the prime minister paid tribute to Justice Abdul Qadir, his accompanying security official and others who had lost their lives in acts of terrorism. He said the nation would never forget their sacrifices.
He said more than 90,000 Pakistanis had sacrificed their lives in the fight against terrorism, including civilians, law enforcement personnel and officers and soldiers of the Pakistan Armed Forces.
Shehbaz Sharif said Pakistan had largely brought terrorism under control by 2017 and 2018, but the threat later resurfaced. He said that India was behind the renewed violence and was providing financial and other forms of support to terrorist elements.
Speaking about Afghanistan, the prime minister said Pakistan had repeatedly urged the Afghan interim government to prevent terrorist organisations from using its territory. The two countries share a border of more than 2,000 kilometres, and regional peace is in the interests of both sides.
However, he said it was regrettable that the desired results had not been achieved. He said Pakistan had recently achieved important successes on the defence and diplomatic fronts, which had raised the country’s standing internationally. However, Pakistan’s enemies were unable to tolerate these achievements.
He stressed that the time had come for the entire nation to unite and advance the journey towards economic development, stability and prosperity so that Pakistan could secure its rightful place in the world.
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