QUETTA, June 22: Federal Minister for Education Zubaida Jalal has said that the apprehensions of nationalist groups on Gwadar sea port are mere propaganda as native people of the town are backing the mega project.

Speaking at the “face to face programme” held at the press club on Sunday, she said that with the construction of the Gwadar sea port none could restrict the flow of the population from within the province and other areas to participate in the development activities of the mega project.

The federal minister, who was elected as an MNA from the coastal area, criticized the approach of nationalist elements on the sea port issue and maintained that they had in the past demanded the construction of the port when they were coalition partners in the provincial government.

“Nationalist groups were opposing the project as this programme was initiated by the government led by President Musharraf so they don’t want to give credit to it,” she remarked.

The minister claimed that the activity of the Gwadar port would be three times higher than that of the Karachi or Bin Qasim ports and maintained that thousands of people from Pakistan, India, and Indonesia were in the Dubai for work, and similarly people would focus for jobs in Gwadar when the port begin functioning.

“Shifting of population from other areas would not affect the rights of native people, as this mega project would bring prosperity to upgrade the living standard of the poor people in the town,” she asserted.

Ms Jalal said the government had conducted the survey to send the youths from Gwadar for skill training to Karachi and Bin Qasim ports and the trained people would be recruited in the sea port on the completion of the project in the next two years.