QUETTA, April 15: Senior minister Maulana Abdul Wasay has said that the Balochistan government had put forward a proposal for the distribution of resources in the new formula of the National Finance Commission (NFC) award and the Sindh and NWFP governments would support Balochistan in trying to get a positive response from Punjab.

Talking to a group of newsmen here on Tuesday the minister, who holds the planning and development portfolio, said the proposal aimed at distributing 50 per cent of the resources on population basis and the remaining should be allocated on the basis of area, backwardness, and revenue generated by the federating units. Maulana Wasay claimed, “the Sindh government has backed us and now we will contact the NWFP for support to bring about changes in the existing distribution formula.”

He further said that the three provinces would urge the Punjab government to respect the proposed changes and maintained that the federal government should also be sympathetic towards the new proposal in order to remove the grievances of the backward areas.

The Balochistan finance minister disclosed that a committee headed by the Minister for Agriculture Maulvi Faizullah would investigate the food department’s claim that wheat amounting to Rs20 million was rotting in the store and added that government was not satisfied with this version and decided to investigate into the matter.

Responding to a question related to the Chaman incident in which the Kandahar governor’s cousin was murdered the other day, the minister for planning and development said that a third force (without naming it) was indulging in such activities to create a misunderstanding between the MMA ands the Afghanistan government.

He said: “When our party’s health minister’s brother was attacked by an Afghan group we chose to protest through diplomatic channels.”