PESHAWAR, Oct 6: Stressing the need for leaving the settlement of the Kashmir issue to politicians instead of the military establishment, the Awami National Party (ANP) has demanded massive reduction in defence expenditure so that it could be utilized for public welfare projects like building of dams and construction of motorways and expressways.
“The country is burdened with huge foreign and internal debt while a major chunk of the public fund is being spent on unproductive head of defence,” said Senior Vice President of ANP Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour here on Monday.
According to official sources the country’s external debt stood at about $36 billions while the internal debt was also the same, bringing the total to almost $72 billion dollars.
Speaking at the Peshawar Press Club’s programme “Guest Hour,” Mr Bilour demanded huge reduction in the country’s defence expenditure and said that instead of spending the huge amount on unproductive things the taxpayers’ money should be utilized for the betterment of the people.
“Billions of dollars have been spent on military in the name of taking Kashmir at the cost of the people of Pakistan who have been facing untold miseries and agonies since the establishment of the country,” Mr Bilour lamented.
Political issues, said Mr Bilour, could best be resolved by politicians and unless the core issue of Kashmir was not resolved other problems could not be resolved.
“Instead of taking occupied Kashmir we lost half of Pakistan due to wrong handling of issues,” he observed.
The price hike, he said, was on the rise while the joblessness was also galloping but there was not reduction in the defence budget, Mr Bilour said.
He said that restoration of the 1973 Constitution was panacea to all problems the country was faced with today.
The ANP leader said that problems could only be effectively redressed if the provincial autonomy was ensured and all subjects were rested with the federating units except defence, currency, foreign policy and foreign trade.
“Provincial resources should be taken care of fully by the provinces to ensure their proper utilization for the betterment of the people of the four provinces,” Mr Bilour said.
Repeating his party’s stand against the possible construction of the Kalabagh dam, he warned that if the government went ahead with its plan then the country might face disintegration in view of the strong opposition in Sindh and the NWFP over the issue.
The ANP, he said, would never allow the construction of the Kalabagh dam because it would destroy five centrally-located districts of the province, destroying the NWFP’s overall economy.
“In a period of 25 years — after the construction of the dam — the entire Peshawar valley would turn into a barren land due to salinity to be caused by the large reservoir of the dam,” said Mr Bilour.
The dam, he said, was yet another project to use Sindh’s water to benefit the Punjab which, he alleged, had brought 6.5 million of acres of its land under irrigation by developing barrages on the River Indus.
