19 November 2004	Friday	06 Shawwal 1425

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window).

QUETTA, Nov 18: Chief Minister Jam Mir Mohammad Yousuf has said that Balochistan will remain intact and demands of dividing the province will not be accepted at any cost.

He was talking to newsmen at Khuzdar on his way to Kalat from his native town Bela on Thursday. Petroleum and Natural Resources Minister for State Mir Naseer Ahmed Mengal accompanied him.

"We believe in securing Balochistan's interests instead of personal interests," Jam Yousuf said, adding that he also believed in serving the people whom he described as real rulers of the country.

He said division of Balochistan would put the integrity of whole Pakistan at a stake, as the people of other provinces would also demand more provinces.

"The division of Balochistan is very difficult rather impossible," the chief minister categorically stated and described this demand as a conspiracy against the province. He said that those who were hurling this demand did not know its repercussions.

"We will not allow any body to divide our province in two or more than two parts," he told newsmen and said that the rights and interests of Balochistan would be protected at all costs.

In reply to a question, he denied differences among the coalition partners and claimed full mutual understanding in the provincial government. He said that all such rumours in this regard were wrong and baseless.

However, he said that if any body or party wanted to join the provincial government, he would welcome them in his coalition government.

The chief minister, while taking notice of the provision of substandard medicines to district Khuzdar and other areas, pledged to investigate the matter

Strict action would be taken against the officials involved in providing substandard medicines to the district hospitals. "I will not tolerate embezzlement of medicines and negligence in this regard," Jam Yousuf said.

Answering another question about wheat situation in the province, the chief minister said soon the shortage of the commodity would be overcome in all the districts of the province as new stock had reached in Karachi.