14 February 2004	Saturday	22 Zilhaj 1424

QUETTA, Feb 13: The Provincial Chief Minister, Jam Mir Mohammad Yousuf has said his government would not tolerate any hurdle in the development of Balochistan as it was quite stable and taking all decision independently.

Speaking at the Local Bodies Convention held in connection with the Sibi Annual Festival, on Friday, he said that the resolution of people's problems and development of the province was the mission of the present government.

He said that Balochistan would get more funds then its share in the new NFC award as it has presented a comprehensive formula on this issue on which the other provinces also agreed.

"With the increase of funds in the new NFC award the destiny of Balochistan would be changed," Jam Yousuf said, adding that the next annual development budget of the province would double with the increasing of Balochistan's share in the federal resources.

He said that it was a great tragedy that despite being the biggest province of the country and having huge resources, it could not get the attention of the rulers and remained backward.

He said that to some extent, the elements responsible for this situation were those who believed in the politics of confrontation and did nothing to resolve the problems being faced by the people of this province.

However, he said that it was the first time that Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali from Balochistan was elected prime minister and he was paying special attention to the uplift of this backward province, while President Pervez Musharraf has launched various mega projects in Balochistan including the Gwadar deep sea port, Coastal National Highway, Mirani Dam and many other development projects.

The Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Yousuf announced a grant of Rs500,000 for Sibi and Rs. 1.5 million for installation of floodlights in Mir Chakar Khan Stadium.

Rally: The Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD), Balochistan, has decided to hold an anti-Musharraf protest rally and a public meeting on Feb 20 in Quetta.

The protest programme was finalized at a meeting of the provincial ARD held here on Friday. It was decided in the meeting that protest rallies and public meetings would be held throughout the province on different days during the "Save Pakistan Movement."

According to the programme, the ARD would establish a protest camp at Meezan Chowk on Feb 18 while a protest rally and public meeting would be held on Feb 20.

Another protest rally and public meeting will be held in Kuchlak on Feb 15 while a public meeting would be held in Pishin on Feb 19. Such rallies and public meetings would also be held in Sibi, Mastung, Khuzdar, Chaman, Qila Saifullah, Loralai, Zhob, Dera Murad Jamali, Usta Mohammad, Bolan and other towns of the province.

PPP Balochistan leader Iqbal Shah presided over the ARD meeting.

Court order: A division bench of the Balochistan High Court has directed the provincial police to hand over the abduction case of girl to the crimes branch as tehsil officials would not be able to lay hand on the accused.

The bench, comprising Chief Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed and Justice Akhtar Zaman Malghani, asked the Naib tehsildars of Mashkal and Sohrab to cooperate with the investigation officers for the recovery the girl.

The mother of kidnap victim, Noor, had filed a petition praying that some influential persons had kidnapped her daughter, Zar, but the law enforcement agency was not taking interest to recover her. The court direct the provincial police to hand over the case to the crimes branch. Further hearing was adjourned.