LAHORE: Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Minister Hafiz Hafeezur Rehman says that a propaganda is being fanned against the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, so the nation must understand the benefits of the project.

“The people of Gilgit-Baltistan know that they were living in stone age prior to the construction of Karakoram Highway,” he told the annual get-together of Gilgit-Baltistan Students Council at the Punjab University on Friday.

“And they also know well that how the project will benefit the people of other provinces.”

Mr Rehman said the provinces the politics of provincialism at the cost of nationalism and concepts of sub-nationalism were being deliberately propagated under a conspiracy. “India invested money to spoil the Kalabagh Dam project and if the dam would have been built, the country would have progressed a lot,” he added. He said Gilgit-Baltistan was rich in cultural diversity but unfortunately, this diversity was misused to destroy the peace of the region. He said the incumbent government had restored peace in the whole region. He said that an MRI machine worth Rs320 million, donated by the Punjab government, would be inaugurated soon in Gilgit-Baltistan.

V-Chancellor Dr Mujahid Kamran also spoke.

Also, Mr Rehman said Punjab’s IT projects would help end polio, crime, illiteracy and terrorism in Galgit-Baltistan.

He said his government would replicate Punjab’s Safe City, e-Vaccination and police projects. He visited the Punjab IT Board where Chairman Dr Umar Saif, also vice-chancellor of the IT University, briefed him on the diverse ICT interventions initiated in Punjab.

The meeting was followed by a media conference. Mr Rehman said his government was already working in collaboration with the Punjab government in many fields. “The work done by the Punjab govt in e-Governance is remarkable for other provinces.”

Dr Saif said they were already assisting federal, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir governments in adopting ICT interventions.

Published in Dawn, October 22nd, 2016