WARSAK: President Ayub Khan said here yesterday that the Warsak Dam was “a testimony to the government’s anxiety to raise the living standard of the people, particularly of those belonging to the hitherto neglected areas”.

Besides, the dam, he emphasised, was a monument to the bond of friendship between Canada and Pakistan and a symbol of the “effectiveness of aid programmes”.

The president was addressing a distinguished audience while performing the inauguration ceremony of the Warsak Dam.

The gathering included Canadian Minister for Veteran Affairs Gordon Churchill, Minister for Fuel, Power and Natural Resources Z.A. Bhutto, other ministers, foreign diplomats and engineers.

Canada and Pakistan, the president said, could be proud of this partnership and of the example in international cooperation which they had set. Expressing his gratitude for Canadian assistance to Mr Churchill, President Ayub said: “I wish to convey through you the gratitude of the government and people of Pakistan to the government of Canada for its help and precious assistance in the completion of this project in particular and for the development of Pakistan in general.”

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Churchill said that Canada was proud of the contribution it had made to the economic development of Pakistan.

The Warsak project, he said, had provided “by the example of its multi-racial builders, a living demonstration of that great truth which Islam proclaims — that the brotherhood of man knows no bounds of race, rank, language or country.”

After the inauguration ceremony, President Ayub awarded medals to those who had done outstanding work during the construction of the dam.

He also awarded mementoes to three Canadians — Mr V. Zacheco, Canadian Government Engineer; Mr E.L. Miller, Project Manger, and Mr C.J. Robbins, Construction Manager.

Oil exploration KARACHI: Soviet Ambassador Dr Kapitsa said here yesterday that the Soviet scientists who had participated in the recent Dacca Science Conference, had confirmed that oil can be found in Pakistan.

A similar assurance, he recalled, had been given by the experts who had visited Pakistan in September. He told newsmen at a diplomatic reception that Premier Khrushchev had also assured an earlier Pakistani mission that Soviet experts would find oil in Pakistan.