ISLAMABAD, July 13: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has ruled out general amnesty for “miscreants” in Balochistan.

“No proposal is under consideration to announce general amnesty for miscreants in Balochistan. Stern measures will be adopted against violators of the law and the writ of the government will be ensured at every cost,” said Aziz while talking to newsmen at the Prime Minister House after presiding over a high-level meeting to review recommendations of the Parliamentary Sub-committee on Balochistan, headed by Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed.

He said the political situation in Balochistan was improving fast, and more than 20,000 people had returned to Dera Bugti and other areas. He expressed the determination that PML, with the support of its allies, would win the next elections all over the country, including Balochistan, with majority.

The government had started implementing the recommendations of the sub-committee, and work on federal-funded projects worth Rs134 billion was in progress in the province, said the prime minister, flanked by Secretary General PML Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Federal Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Saleem Saifullah and Special Assistant to Prime Minister Khalil-ur-Rehman.

He provided details of the projects and said work on them was in full swing. The projects, on completion, would provide jobs to more than 33,000 local people, he claimed.

Aziz said the status of sub-committee’s recommendations would be reviewed on a monthly basis. He said a monitoring cell would also be set up in Quetta to monitor the pace of development projects for their early completion.

He said the government had decided to double the number of PhD scholarships for Balochistan, from 18 to 36.

He said local and foreign investment in Balochistan would also be increased.

To a question, the prime minister said the other sub-committee of the parliament, headed by Wasim Sajjad, had yet to complete its recommendations on the legal and constitutional issues relating to Balochistan.

About the financial problems of Balochistan, he said the federal government had deferred the loan repayment of Balochistan. It would provide a relief of Rs2 billion which could be spent on development schemes, he added.

The meeting was also briefed by law enforcing agencies on the law and order situation in the province.—Agencies