Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Tuesday said that practical measures were being taken for the development of southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and to make Dera Ismail Khan a business hub. He expressed these views while addressing a ceremony where Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif visited Dera Ismail Khan to inaugurate multi-development projects for the southern districts of KP. He said he felt happiness and a matter of honour that his dream to make the area an economic hub by linking its trade and business with the international market had come true after the inauguration of these mega development projects. On the contrary, when Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government was imposed, it halted all the development projects and our neighbouring countries started losing trust in view of the anti-development steps of the PTI. Fazl alleged that the PTI government was out to play wreck with the country’s development. He said it was also evident, besides other anti-development overtures by the PTI-led government, from the fact that Gwadar port, which played a key role in the country’s development and was one of the deepest seas, its depth was drastically reduced. He said the world should know that we wanted friendly relations with other countries, but the ‘relationship of slave and master’ was not acceptable. He also expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for inaugurating development projects for the area. He said over the last 16 months it was the third or fourth visit of the prime minister to Dera which showed his interest in the development of the area. He said that these projects had not only been announced but practical steps had also been taken and work on certain projects was launched and tenders had been floated. He also opined that a cargo airport should be built so that production of the area could be supplied to international markets. Referring to inflation, he was of the opinion that more development schemes should be launched to provide jobs to people and enable them to earn livelihood in a respectable manner. He also advocated for constructing more dams like Tank Zam, Chawadan dam, first lift and second lift canal etc adding these measures would change the destiny of the area by bringing 12 lac acre of land under cultivation. He also demanded early repair of roads which got damaged during floods last year. JUI-F chief said that a road network was being laid like Yarik to Zhob and onward to Gwadar. Similarly, link roads were also being built for Bannu and Lakki Marwat districts which help ensure the development of those areas by boosting economic activities. He also underlined the need for giving first priority to the local population as far as employment and development schemes were concerned in those areas where hydrocarbon resources were developed.