15 August 2004	Sunday	28 Jamadi-us-Saani 1425

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LAHORE, Aug 14: Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi pledged on the country's 57th Independence Day to follow the policies given by President Musharraf to eradicate poverty and illiteracy and create more jobs for hundreds of thousands of youth entering the labour market every year.

Addressing a ceremony at the Muslim League House amid tight security, the chief minister said steps taken by him after assuming power in Punjab had already started yielding positive results and further improvement would be seen in the times ahead.

Some workers raised slogans for various leaders, at times interrupting the speech of the chief minister who wanted to conclude it at the earliest due to intolerable humidity. He urged them to stop raising slogans. But as his repeated calls went unheard, he told them in a light vein that everyone on the stage knew that they were present in the ceremony.

For security reasons, many seats in the first two rows were either kept vacant or were occupied mainly by security personnel.

The chief minister said Allah had given the PML an opportunity to serve the masses and it would utilise it judiciously to come up to people's expectations.

Mr Elahi highlighted the importance of education for the uplift of a country, and said his government had made highest ever allocation for this vital sector. Aware of the fact that mainly the children from poor families come to the state-run schools, the chief minister said the government was trying to raise of standard of these institutions.

The free education and books policy had already attracted over half a million new students to government-run schools. There were still some four million children who were not going to schools, he said, adding that efforts would be made to enrol them as well.

The chief minister asked the people to pledge to work to strengthen the country as well as its defence, strengthen the economy, overcome joblessness and revive the Islamic values. Harmony among provinces, tolerance and enlightened moderation should be other goals the nation should try to achieve, he said.

Mr Elahi said elections for the provincial organization of the PML would be held soon. However, he made it clear that the outgoing office-bearers would be accorded equal importance and the new and old office-bearers would work in close collaboration with one another.

He said various party wings would also be reorganized in the near future.

Party's secretary-general Chaudhry Zaheeruddin was all praise for the chief minister for giving the Punjab a new direction.

He said the governance of Punjab should be a role model for other provinces. The PML government, he said, was determined to give top priority to education, health, industrialization and agriculture.

Without naming anyone, Mr Zaheeruddin said Jeddah and Dubai had a hotline between them. This, he said, meant that the two leaders were in contact with each other even 15 years ago, though they had divided the nation.

He said the PML government should be given credit for burying the politics of victimization.

A number of resolutions were adopted to praise Gen Musharraf for the policies he gave the country, the leadership of Prime Minister Shujaat Husain, and to congratulate various party leaders.

Arshad Lodhi, Senator Kamil Ali Agha, Mian Abdus Sattar, Akhtar Rasool, Mian Aslam Iqbal, Mian Amer Mahmood, Abdul Aleem Khan, Ramzan Bhatty and Mian Shahbaz also addressed.