TAXILA: Chairman Senate standing committee on interior and JUI-F leader Talha Mehmood has said his party wanted the reservations on the 21st constitutional amendment removed through talks.

Talking to mediapersons here on Saturday, Mr Mehmood said his party believed in resolution of all disputes in a democratic manner. He said the JUI-F was ready for discussions with the government if the latter was willing for it.

Mr Mehmood said it was time the government removed the reservations of religious parties as it cannot afford a confrontation with them. He said terrorists can be from any section of society but tagging them with religious groups and schools was a misconception.

Responding a question about the repatriation of the Afghan refugees, the JUI leader said it was unfortunate that a large number of aliens had got Pakistani nationality in connivance with some institutions.

In reply to another question, Mr Mehmood, who is also a member of the Senate sub-committee on petroleum, attributed the recent petrol crisis to poor planning by the ministry and non-serious attitude of the government.

He said the discovery of oil and gas in the upper Khanpur valley would bring a new era of development and prosperity to the area.

If the exploration remained successful, the area would become a gateway to oil and gas exploration in the Hazara division.

Earlier, Mehmood visited various boys and girls schools in Khanpur to review their security arrangements.

During the visit, the senator was stunned to see that the schools lacked basic facilities. He announced a sum of Rs25,000 for a school to provide it with the missing facilities.

Published in Dawn, Economic & Business, January 26th , 2015

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