June 4, 2003	Wednesday	Rabi-us-Sani 3, 1424

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RAWALPINDI, June 3: Federal Minister for Water and Power Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao on Tuesday termed the political developments in NWFP unfortunate and detrimental to the interests of the province and its people.

Talking to this reporter, after inaugurating a paintings exhibition, he said the provincial government should have rather focussed on the betterment and social uplift of the people.

“The NWFP government’s action will not take the province ahead or alleviate the sufferings of the common people,” he said. Islamic teachings, he added, gave priority to solving people’s problems to other things, which, in any case, was the moral obligation of the government.

Supporting federal government’s intention of taking acting against the provincial government, he said, remedial measures were indispensable.

He said, in the current situation, the system of local governments was being threatened, and no one would like to sit idle seeing the setup being destroyed.

Mr Sherpao said the parliament should be allowed to legislate for people’s betterment.

Earlier, speaking at the gathering, he said the LFO was not the problem of the common man. The masses expect the politicians to address their problems of poverty, unemployment and price hike.

About the high power tariffs, he said, Wapda was fully conscious of the burden on consumers. However, relief cannot be provided in a single day, he added.