ISLAMABAD, Sept 22: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Thursday said the government was committed to providing basic facilities to the people living in the Northern Areas, under the Khushhal Pakistan Programme. The government, he said, would provide gas, electricity, clean drinking water to those people and would also focus on health and education to improve their standard of living.

The prime minister was talking to PML president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, secretary-general Mushahid Hussain Syed, Minister of State Muhammad Ali Durrani and Additional Secretary-General Iqbal Dar. The meeting, held in the PM’s chamber, discussed party’s organizational matters with reference to the election results of Northern Areas (NAs) Council.

The premier said the results of elections of NAs Council were encouraging and reflected the overwhelming support of the people of Northern Areas to the policies of the government.

The meeting also discussed ways to invigorate the party in the NAs to help increase its membership.

Meanwhile, a group of government parliamentarians discussed with him the ongoing development programme in their respective areas.

Mr Aziz assured them of the government’s support to the public welfare programmes.

Parliamentarians meeting the premier include Chaudhry Shahbaz Hussain, minister for population welfare; Raza Hayat Hiraj, minister of state for parliamentary affairs; MNAs Sheikh Waqas, Sardar Tufail, Sardar Nasrulalh Dareshak, Mazhar Qureshi, Gian Chang Singh, Rana Umar Nazir and Senator Ahmed Ali.