FAISALABAD, March 14: President Pervez Musharraf said on Tuesday that some Khateebs were creating disharmony among the people for their vested interest. Government agencies alone could not stop them, he said and urged people to come forward and stop such elements. He was talking to a delegation of traders, politicians, exporters and lawyers at the local circuit house.

He also spoke on the subject at the convocation of the University of Agriculture.

The president said that extremism preached by some of the Khateebs was one of the causes of terrorism which was tarnishing the image of the country and hurting its stability.

On the Balochistan issue, the president said that Marri and Bugti tribes were using the tactic of blackmail and creating problems for the government.

He said the government planned to construct a road from Sui to Kohlu, but some elements were trying to sabotage the project. He expressed the resolve to move ahead with development activities in the province.

The president said that water reservoirs would be built as planned and Rs66 billion would be spent on brick-lining 86,000 watercourses over the next two years to conserve water.

The president said that he would soon perform the ground- breaking of the Diamer-Bhasha dam. The president said the government would provide maximum funds for the development of the industrial city and the Faisalabad-Multan motorway would be completed on schedule.

City District Nazim Rana Zahid Tauseef accompanied the delegation.

Speaking at the inaugural session of the centenary celebrations of the University of Agriculture, President Musharraf has stressed the need for exploring new avenues for the promotion of engineering, science and technology, instead of concentrating only on textile and agriculture.

He said that exporters were concentrating only on textiles but there was a need to pay attention to value-added products of other sectors.

He said that a number of developed countries had no natural resources, but their GDP growth rate was much higher than Pakistan’s because they concentrated on sectors like information technology and science and engineering.

He said the government was committed to providing skilled manpower to industries for which technical institutions were being set up in major cities.

He said the government was aware about the trend of price hike and was trying to resolve the issue with long-term policies for which financial mangers were working in consultation with public representatives.

He pointed out that Pakistan was the fifth largest producer of milk in the world and efforts were being made to increase the export of value-added dairy products.