LAHORE, Feb 16: Punjab Governor Lieutenant General (rtd) Khalid Maqbool has said that government has performed well during the last seven years due to which the economic condition of the masses and the law and order situation has improved and now the ruling party is in a better position to win the next elections.

Talking to a delegation of journalists from Sindh, who had called on him at the Governor’s House during their goodwill visit to Punjab, he said there had been continuity in the government policies which revived the confidence of investors. He said local and foreign investment had brought prosperity to public.

He said the development budget of Punjab used to be around Rs20 billion seven years back which has now touched the figure of Rs100 billion with major focus on education, health, communication network and uplift of the comparatively backward areas. Besides, he said the government had done a lot for the protection of vulnerable sections, including women and minorities, and special legislation had been made so that they could feet safe and secure.

In reply to a question, he said several parts of the country, particularly cities like Jhang and Bhawalpur, were in grip of sectarianism a few years back, however with better governance and management law and order has been maintained and no major incident had occurred in the past few years in Punjab.

Admitting that street crimes, particularly mobile phone snatching, had increased, he argued that earlier only a few people had cellphones but now 30 to 40 million cellphones were being used in the country.

Referring to the journalists’ visit, he said such tours were necessary to do away with all misunderstandings between the people of different provinces. He suggested that more such tours of people in different professions should be organised to promote inter-provincial harmony.

In reply to another question, he said the federal government was providing resources to the federating units according an agreed formula, but he felt that the smaller provinces should be given slightly more than their due share so that they might not feel deprived. Similarly, he said, government jobs were also provided on quota basis in different institutions except army in which Sindh and Balochistan were not represented properly. However, he said their representation was being enhanced now.

Earlier, Sindh Inter-provincial Coordination Minister Dr Sohrab Sarki, who was leading the delegation, said vested interests had been fanning hatred and provoking people of different provinces against each other and this tour was organised to counter such elements and provide the media persons an experience to get a firsthand information.

He said the elected assembly of Sindh had passed the Pakistan Resolution. He said many leading politicians were elected to the assemblies, but when they started talking of nationalism these politicians could not get elected to the assemblies ever, which proved the Sindhi people’s love for Pakistan.

Dr Sohrab Sarki said this tour had been very successful and soon more such tours comprising students, intellectuals, scholars, traders and farmers would be organized so that people-to-people contact could be established and misconceptions about each other could be eliminated.