RAWALPINDI, Aug 6: President General Pervez Musharraf on Saturday said Pakistan needed large water reservoirs for its rapid development in agricultural and industrial sectors, and promised to safeguard interests of all provinces while moving ahead in this regard. The president told senior editors from Sindhi-language newspapers and the electronic media that the province would benefit enormously from the construction of large reservoirs and sought media’s support in raising awareness on water issues through balanced and objective analyses.

He said the technical committee on water reservoirs “is to submit its report later this month” and a decision would be taken after taking into consideration all aspects.

“The need for having large dams must be viewed futuristically as we need both water and energy for our continued development; we should not allow the country to suffer on this count,” he said.

He added that dams will help save 35 million acre feet of water that “goes waste every year” and also avert flood disasters. On the National Finance Commission award, the president said it would be judicious and fair, bringing billions of additional funds to small provinces.

In this context, he said, the government had been striving to promote inter-provincial harmony and national integration as part of its seven-point agenda. He said Sindh and Balochistan had been allocated more share in the public sector development programme. He pointed out that both the provinces “are receiving more allocations than Punjab” which “deserved praise for its sacrifice”.

This, he said, clearly indicated the government’s resolve to bring under-developed areas on a par with the developed parts of the country. Sindh has been a cradle of culture and civilization for centuries, he said and added that it was a prime responsibility of the media to present a true picture to the people and highlight achievements to overcome any sense of deprivation.

President Musharraf also favoured greater autonomy for provinces and said the issue of the concurrent list would be sorted out constitutionally and politically. He praised the Pakistan Army for its timely repair of the Sukkur Barrage, which is the agricultural lifeline of the province. He said the timely repairs saved the barrage from being washed away during the current floods.

The Pakistan Army, he said, was a national institution having representation from all provinces. He added that 80,000 officers and personnel hailing from Sindh served in the armed forces. President Musharraf said he would personally oversee the realization of the targets set for primary healthcare and education, electrification, provision of clean drinking water, poverty reduction, price control and generation of employment opportunities at the grass-roots level.

Speaking about the economic performance, he said, Pakistan attracted an investment of US $1.5 billion in the last financial year, which was likely to increase this year.

He expressed the hope that in view of continuing positive trends the country’s annual exports, which stood at US $14 billion, would touch US $20 billion mark in a few years. In his wide-ranging interaction, the president reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to weed out extremism from society and said the current crackdown against extremists would go ahead.

Calling for the need to project true values of Islam, he said, a national discourse to be launched shortly would be greatly helpful in removing misconceptions about the great religion, which stands for peace, harmony, tolerance, and well-being of all.—APP