KARACHI, July 7: The Governor of Sindh, Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan, said that the government had been facing many challenges for the last 2 years including alleviation of poverty, improvement in the health and education sectors. He pointed out that initially hard work had to be done and now great improvement was coming on the ground, because our direction and focus was right which greatly helped us to move ahead.

He was speaking as chief guest at the launching of “Kasak”, a poetic collection of USA-based poet and singer Yunus Hamdam.

The ceremony was held under the auspices of the Arts Council of Pakistan and Al-Hasan Academy.

The governor said that a negative impression was being created and many fears and apprehensions being expressed. However, elections are a political process and government’s all out effort is to hold transparent and fair elections in a peaceful environment, he added.

Dr Ibad said that Karachi was the backbone of Pakistan and if conditions get disturbed here, its effects were felt all over the country.

He said that in order to maintain freshness and fragrance in the city’s environment, we needed greater cooperation from literary people.

The governor said that the government was striving to maintain peace and tranquillity.

He said that he felt delighted to attend this function where people who loved art and literature were also present and who had the spirit of taking good traditions of the society forward through their writings, poetry and other artistic means.

Referring to the law and order conditions, the governor pointed out that today star hotels in Karachi were having 100 per cent occupancy while big hotels were planning to add more floors up to 40 storeys to build hundreds of more rooms.

He said the SITE area, from where industries were earlier shifting, was now having a new unit every second day. In Nooriabad alone which had only five industries, now there were 61 industries

On the occasion, the governor announced an amount of Rs0.5 million as awards for children writers.—APP