QUETTA, Jan 18: The chairman of the Tehrik-i-Isteqlal party, Rehmat Khan Vardag, has issued a call to hold local district government elections in June this year , and suggested that the election of nazims from tehsil to district level should be conducted at the same time.

Speaking at a press conference at the end of his four-day visit to Quetta, on Sunday, he said that the term of the present local bodies' government would be completed in June.

He said new educated and experienced people would come in the local bodies through new elections, which would help in strengthening and helping the system flourish in the country.

Referring the increasing unemployment in the country, he suggested that the government should reduce the retirement age of public servants from 60 to 55 years and those who have competed 55 years should be retired with all benefits. He said that educated youth should be recruited on pure merit basis to resolve the unemployment problems being faced by the country.

He also suggested that under a five-year plan small industries should be established from tehsil to district level through spending of two billion dollars in the country that would provide hundreds of thousands jobs to the unemployed youths of the country.

Mr Vardag said that President General Pervez Musharraf fulfilled all his promises he made with the people and now he should come forward and launch the construction of the Kalabagh Dam and other water reservoirs at all cost in the country that would help in making the country self-sufficient in wheat production. He said agriculture production would also increase with the construction of Kalabagh Dam.

Responding to a question, Rehmat Khan Vardag said that mega development projects in Balochistan were against the interests of those people who do not want development to take place in Balochistan. He said that the federal and provincial government should give full attention to the ongoing projects including the Gwadar port.

He also suggested that National Highway Authority should construct a two-way highway between Quetta and Jacobabad to link Balochistan to the rest of the country's highway network. He said that NHA should allocate more funds for the construction roads in Balochistan as this backward province needs special attention at this time for bringing it at par with other developed provinces of the country.

Responding to yet another question, he said that the president has indicated four important points and now people and all opposition parties including ARD should take notice of it and extend all their cooperation to the government in the larger interest of the country.

He deplored the attitude of the opposition parties during the president's address in the joint session of the Parliament and said that the whole world was witnessing their undemocratic protest against the President.

The provincial chairmen of the party from Sindh, Balochistan and NWFP, Ahmed Dara, Nisar Ahmed Khan, Farhad Ali Khan respectively were also present at the press conference.