LAHORE, May 7: Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi has urged newspapers to give adequate coverage to issues and events occurring in all parts of the country to promote national integrity and cohesion.

He was speaking at a reception hosted by him in honour of the APNS office-bearers here at the Chief Minister’s House on Tuesday.

The chief minister said the trend of concentrating only on local and regional issues and activities was increasing in the newspapers being published in different parts of the country. This trend needed to be changed, he added.

Mr Elahi said agriculture, education and health were top priorities of his government. A comprehensive planning had also been made to provide adequate water and power to farmers by starting the construction of two small dams this year.

Mentioning the law and order situation in the province, he said the police-people ratio in Punjab was lower than that of other provinces. That was why the government had decided to recruit 10,000 more police officials.

APNS President Arif Nizami said it was heartening that the principle of freedom of the press had now universally been recognized.

CPNE President Mujeebur Rehman Shami also spoke on the occasion.