LAHORE: Federal Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal has said the media coverage of the extremist forces should be proportionate to their following in the country and such elements should be downplayed.

Speaking at a marketing moot here on Monday, he said: “As extremist forces have only one per cent representation in the country, the media should give them only one per cent from their total airtime and allocate the rest of time for highlighting positive image of the country.”

The minister believed if the media boycotted the extremists, people would witness a visibly good change in the country in the next six months.

About the Vision 2025, his ministry was busy preparing, Mr Iqbal said the planning was in its final stages.

He also talked of the billions of dollars investment the PML-N government had attracted from China in energy, transport and infrastructure development sectors.The government, he said, had turned the China-Pakistan political relationship into an economic bond.

The Gwadar port and Gaddani coal generation project would end deprivation of people of Balochistan and start a new era of prosperity and economic development in the province, he hoped.

Similarly, he said, Thar coal power project would help improve the lot of starving people of Sindh.

He said sale paradigm ruled supreme in the last 65 years in the country but this was being turned into marketing paradigm as the government was focusing on production and export, adopting an outward looking approach.