TIMERGARA, Jan 23: PTV’s Pushto language channel will begin transmission from March 23, says Federal Information Minister Shaikh Rashid Ahmad.

He was inaugurating a television booster here on Monday.

Shaikh Rashid said work was under way on launching separate PTV channels in regional languages.

He said the booster had cost Rs30.5 million and another booster would be set up in the Laram Darra area in two to three months.

Referring to the Kalabagh dam, he said the government had not backed out of the project, adding that all five dams would be completed by 2016.

He said it was the best time to secure funds from donor agencies for the project, but the opposition spoiled the opportunity.

The opposition, he said, was also doing politicising the Bajaur incident bombing, he said, adding that the government had lodged a protest with the American embassy and had asked him that such incidents should not recur.

He said that the opposition was demanding that the government should sever diplomatic ties with the US but currently it was not possible.

He also said a neighbouring country wanted to strain Pakistan’s relations with the US. He did not elaborate.

Commenting on the Balochistan situation, he said the government had launched an operation against a “handful of terrorist elements” in that province.

The operation was not targeting any “peace loving and law abiding citizen”, rather it had been launched “to crush the terrorist elements”.

He said it was for the first time that the government had come out against Sardars and feudal landlords who discouraged development in their respective areas but the government would not let them do so.

He said the federal government had given about Rs13 billion to the NWFP in the NFC award.

The minister said that Maulana Fazlur Rehman did not favour anti-government agitation but Qazi Hussain Ahmad believed in the politics of agitation.

He said that general elections would be held in 2007 and new alliances and electoral groups would come into being for fresh elections.