Daily Times

Sir: This is with reference to ‘Prime Minister Online’, a TV show meant for the PM to keep close contact with the people and apprise them of the policies, priorities and achievements of his government. This programme was to be telecast after every month so that people could make a direct contact with the PM and request him to address their individual as well as collective problems in any particular area. The PM appeared on April 1, stayed online for 50 minutes, which was dominated by two hosts who gave the callers only 10 minutes to talk to the premier, asking most of the time (40 minutes) irrelevant and meaningless questions against the true spirit of the show.

I dialed the given numbers for 50 minutes but found them busy throughout the show because it was a two-man show: two hosts were talking, leaving little time for the PM to talk to the people. My question was not personal; it was concerned with the national project Lowari tunnel, which has been neglected by the present democratic government for the past three years. Forty percent of the work on the Lowari tunnel project was completed during Musharraf’s period from 2006 to 2008 but after his departure only five percent work has been completed in the last three years. According to the original plan of the Lowari project, it was to be completed on December 31, 2010, but the funds of the project have been transferred to Larkana and Multan, work has been suspended and 55 percent of the project is yet to be completed. I wanted to bring this issue to the attention of the PM but the two hosts did not allow me to do so.

BASHIR HUSSAIN AZAD

Chitral