GUJAR KHAN: Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry on Saturday said the judiciary could not decide about the establishment of a new city as this decision could only be taken by the government.

Talking to media persons in Jhelum, Mr Chaudhry said the judiciary had limited resources and could not interfere in a decision-making policy.

He was referring to the recent ruling by the Lahore High Court (LHC) in which it scrapped the Ravi Urban Development Authority Ordinance 2021.

“A country has always paid a high cost whenever judiciary interfered in policy-making decisions whether it was the IPPs, Reko Diq or Steel Mill. I hope the judges will learn from the mistakes made in the past,” the minister said.

Says foreign hands involved in the disruption of peace in Balochistan; no shortage of urea, distribution issue to be solved in 10 days

Building a new city is the decision of the government and a judge cannot decide about it, Mr Chaudhry said, adding that the project was not a housing society but an entire city was being established.

About the recent attacks in Balochistan, the minister said foreign hands were involved in disrupting peace in the province.

“There are two forms of violence in the country: religious and separatist,” Mr Chaudhry said.

Religious extremists resort to violence when their illegal demands are not fulfilled while other extremists turn to violence on the pretext of not getting gas royalty and unpaved streets, he said, adding that countries and states cannot be run like this.

“If someone’s road isn’t made or gas connection isn’t provided, should they go and start shooting people,” he asked.

“We stand with the families of the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the protection of the motherland and action is being taken against those responsible for spilling blood during the recent spate of attacks in Balochistan,” the minister said.

About the crisis of urea in Punjab, Mr Chaudhry said there was a great difference between domestic and international prices.

“A bag of urea costs Rs10,000-Rs12,000 in the international market whereas, in the black market in Pakistan, it is not more than Rs2,200,” he said, adding that there is no shortage of urea and the problem is in its distribution that will be solved in 10 days.

He said the opposition could not block the State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill in the Senate on Friday as it comprised “dwarfs”.

Mr Chaudhry said the opposition should make way for senior leadership, adding that PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz should contest elections for mayor and then climb the leadership ladder.

He said the opposition was perplexed and could not compete with Prime Minister Imran Khan on any front.

Published in Dawn, January 30th, 2022