MANSEHRA, Aug 23: National Reconstruction Bureau Chairman (NRB) Daniyal Aziz has said that the state institutions need to be strengthened.

He was speaking at a convention of the nazims and councillors of Mansehra district on the importance of the Citizen Community Boards (CCBs) organized by the Devolution Trust for Community Empowerment (DTCE) at the sports stadium here on Monday.

NWFP Assembly Opposition Leader Shahzada Mohammad Gustasap Khan, MPAs Zar Gul Khan and Wajeehuz Zaman Khan, MNAs Maulana Abdul Malik and Sardar Shahjehan Yousaf, District Nazim Ahmad Hussain Shah, Mansehra Tehsil Nazim Nawabzada Mohammad Farooq Khan, Oghi Tehsil Nazim Laiq Mohammad Khan, former MNA Nawabzada Salahuddin Saeed and DTCE Chief Executive Masood Salam also spoke on the occasion.

Mr Aziz said that the aim of politics and democracy was not the construction of pavements and drains, but it should focus on strengthening the institutions.

He said the systems of exploitation and the bureaucracy were inherited from the British colonial rule. And in the existing system, people have entered politics only to establish their own estates like Raiwind and the performance of institutions has virtually been stopped, he maintained.

He said that Pakistan at present was passing through a critical juncture of its history when the banks have been rendered unable to grant loans and it has become almost impossible for the government to provide jobs to the people. The politicians would have to change their attitude for strengthening the institutions, he added.

The NRB chairman said that as an MNA he had undergone very bitter experience in 1997. Quoting Mao Ze Tung he said: "It is better to train a person in catching fish instead of providing him one fish everyday."

Mr Aziz urged the local bodies' representatives to promote unity and make alliances for strengthening the devolution system. Earlier, Mr Salam said that DTCE would provide Rs40,000 per union council for constituting CCBs and a further amount of Rs180,000 per union council for uplift schemes.