QUETTA, Aug 12: Balochistan Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani on Friday called upon the masses to serve the country like dutiful sons and daughters who look after their mother and protect her from harm.

The governor was speaking at the end of a speech competition jointly organized by the Zamana Group of Newspapers and Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation here.

The governor said that Pakistan had emerged as a strong country despite facing serious crises and challenges. “By the grace of God the country has overcome these challenges and is now moving towards development and prosperity,” he said.

The governor attributed Pakistan’s achievement of nuclear capability to the “talent, ingenuity and hard-work” of its people. “The Pakistani nation has now tested its latest acquisition of cruise missile technology,” Mr Owais Ghani observed.

He underscored the need for creating complete unity among the people of all segments of society so that the country could prosper and achieve more success. Through unity and hard work, he said, the Pakistani nation can leave other nations behind in the race for development and achievements.

Organizers of the speech competition won praise from the governor for their efforts “to create a true Pakistani spirit among the new generation”.

Earlier, Syed Fasieh Iqbal, a former senator and chief editor of local English and Urdu

newspapers, highlighted the role of Balochistan’s leaders and people in the Pakistan movement.

“The leaders and people of this province played a very important role in the Pakistan movement and creation of the new state,” he said.

He paid tributes to Sardar Abdul Rab Nishtar’s contribution to the Pakistan Movement and said those efforts could not be forgotten. “Now Sardar Abdul Rab Nishtar’s nephew Owais Ahmed Ghani is serving the people of Balochistan as governor,” he said.

The station director at the PBC office in Quetta, Ghulam Hussain Balti, delivered the welcome address.