0
LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said that trade with India through land route will create jobs and bring about prosperity in the country.
Talking to media at Wagah border after a short visit to Indian Punjab on Friday, he said business links between the two countries would benefit both nations and usher in a new era of prosperity in Pakistan.
Arguing that wars had so far given nothing to either country, he said he had made it clear to the Indians that a durable peace was impossible without resolving Kashmir and water issues. “History of both important countries of the Sub-continent is reflective of confrontation, but time has come for them to realise that a durable and permanent peace in the region is impossible without resolving basic issues.”
Mr Shahbaz said he had also told the Indian leadership that “we will have to sit on table and hold dialogue and make progress by living peacefully. We will have to decide ourselves to live like good neighbours.”
In reply to a question, he said alternative energy resources would have to be utilised for overcoming the energy crisis. He said $9 billion was spent annually on the import of oil, but on the other hand there were 75 sugar mills in the country whose by-product bagasse could help generate 2,000MW of electricity.
He said that despite having a constitutional right to generate electricity, the provinces were still dependent on the centre for executing new power projects. “Nepra decides electricity tariff and the authority to give sovereign guarantees to investors lies with the centre.”
He said a lot of time could be saved if upfront rates for generating energy were decided once and for all. He called for increasing the credit limit for the provinces for generating energy.
Decisions taken at the second national energy conference should be implemented for the benefit of the entire nation, the chief minister added.
Earlier, Shabhaz Sharif attended the inaugural ceremony of second integrated checkpost gate in Attari, a border area of India.
