CHITRAL, July 8: President General Pervez Musharraf on Saturday emphasised the need for weeding out extremism and terrorism from the country to achieve progress and create a better image of Pakistan in the comity of nations.
Addressing a public meeting at the Chowni Ground here and later performing the groundbreaking of the Lowari rail tunnel project at Ziarat, some 70km from here, he said that retrogressive forces must be stopped.
“Islam has taught us tolerance and to live in peace and amity with others and avoid creating hatred and abhorrence,” the president said, adding that no one had the right to declare others inferior Muslims; it was for Allah Almighty to decide who was a true Muslim.
He asked people to maintain peace so that tourism and mineral potential of the area could be exploited.
Lowari tunnel will link Chitral, which remains inaccessible in winter, to the rest of the country. The 8.6km tunnel across the Lowari Pass will be completed in two years at a cost of Rs8 billion. The tunnel could be converted into a highway at a later stage.
Gen Musharraf said that in the past remote areas like Chitral had been ignored by successive governments. But now, he added, the situation had changed as the present leadership was fully committed to the development of backward areas and there were ample funds to carry out the uplift programme.
He said the government was sharing benefits of economic progress with people by creating jobs, reducing poverty and controlling prices of essential commodities on the one hand and providing electricity, water and gas facilities to them on the other.
In order to improve the quality of people’s life, he said, the government had been paying special attention to education and health. He promised that people of Chitral would not be ignored any longer, rather they would be given more than their share.
“I am committed to eradicating backwardness, irrespective of the political affiliation of an area and this is exactly what I am doing in Chitral,” he said.
About the Lowari Tunnel project, he said it was a commitment he had made six years ago, adding that he had fulfilled all his promises made with the people of Chitral last year. He mentioned writing off agricultural loans, opening of utility stores and construction of Chitral-Gilgit Road and a truckable bridge over Yarkhoon river at Mastuj.
The president announced a grant of Rs100 million for various development projects to be executed by the district government.
He said that a feasibility study would be conducted to exploit the hydel potential of the district to set up power stations across the valley. He promised that prospects of a road to Tajikistan via Chitral would be looked into.
He said that under the Rozgar Pakistan programme, loans would be provided for operating mobile utility stores to sell daily-use commodities on controlled rates.
APP adds: The president said the government had already set up a ‘Pakistan Stone Development Company’ to harness the potential of precious stones in Chitral and other areas, including parts of Sindh and tribal areas. He announced a plan to link Northern Areas to the Central Asian Republics through Chitral and China.
He said that parliament for the first time in the country’s history would complete its tenure and general elections would be held in 2007.
