October 24, 2003	Friday	Sha’aban 27, 1424

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SUKKUR, Oct 23: President Gen Pervez Musharraf has said the new local government system has created a silent revolution in the country in which problems of the people are resolved at their doorstep.

Addressing the inauguration ceremony of a labour colony and a school of the Engro Chemical Company in Daharki, Ghotki district, on Thursday, he however admitted that there were some shortcomings in the system.

He said the government was working to improve the system and make it conform to the country’s requirements.

The president said foreign institutions were also praising the new system as it had devolved the powers to the gross-root level.

He referred to the political condition between 1988 and 1999 when, according to him, democracy was not allowed to work which had brought the country at the brink of disaster.

He said there was no check on the prime minister and the president during that period and that was the reason for bad governance and malpractice in the past.

He said the new system was introduced to run the democratic system in a smooth manner.

He said his government was giving emphasis to resolving problems at the gross-root level.

Saying that Pakistan largely depended on agriculture, Gen Musharraf stressed the need for bringing about improvement in the sector.

He said agriculture was the source of livelihood of 70 per cent of the population. He said the people in urban areas were linked with trade and industry.

He said the standard of living of the people should be improved to change the destiny of the nation.

President Musharraf said there was also a need to improve the quality of education and health. He said the government was trying to promote the concept of private-public partnership in education and health sectors which were ignored in the past. He invited NGOs interested in investing in the sectors to come forward and assured the government’s support to them.

He said employers and workers should play their due role to boost the country’s economy.

He said it was the responsibility of industrialists to create conducive working conditions at their workplaces and provide facilities to family members of workers so that they could work with the peace of mind.

He said they should return a major share of their profits to workers.

He advised workers to perform their duties with honesty as their hard work would not only benefit them but also the country.