TAXILA: Federal Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan on Saturday admitted that the PTI would learn from the defeat in local government elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and would repeat mistakes in Punjab.

He was talking to newsmen after performing inauguration of Sangjani-Paswal road rehabilitation project which would be completed at the cost of Rs700 million during the current fiscal year.

The minister, however, added that results had exposed the PML-N and PPP and they were restricted to Punjab and Sindh. The majority of seats in KP have won by Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F).

He said that PTI government had ensured transparent, free and fair elections in the province and contested polls without the support of other political parties and local pressure groups. He claimed that the ruling PTI had emerged as the lone political power of the country.

The minister announced that Prime Minister Imran Khan would perform the ground breaking ceremony of the Rawalpindi Ring Road project and Naya Pakistan Housing project in Sangjani next month. After completion the two projects would boost economic and trade activities in the region.

He said Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) on Wednesday approved the Rawalpindi Ring Road project which includes a main carriageway from Baanth (N-5) to Thallian (M-2) at a cost of Rs23.6 billion on the condition that the Planning Commission’s consent will be sought and the axle load management regime will be included in the project.

He said the project would be financed under the provincial Annual Development Programme (ADP) while the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) will execute the construction of the 38.3 km six lane access-controlled ring road.

He further said the present government was planning to construct over 2,000 housing units on the government land located in Sangjani area under Naya Pakistan Housing Project (NPHP) to facilitate the low-income citizens.

Member National Assembly Mansoor Hayat Khan and member Punjab Assembly Ammar Sadeeq Khan also spoke on this occasion.

Bid to smuggle narcotics foiled

The Attock Police on Saturday foiled a bid to smuggle narcotics from KP to Punjab and arrested a drug smuggler who confessed to be a member of inter provincial gang of drugs smugglers racket.

Police spokesman told newsmen that during checking of a Rawalpindi bound passenger van coming from Peshawar at Attock Khurd Search Park, 1.20 kilogram hashish was recovered from a woman.

The spokesman said that during the preliminary interrogation, she confessed to being a member of an inter provincial gang of drug smugglers racket.

Published in Dawn, December 26th, 2021