Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar has said that PTI government is making every effort for the welfare of the people of southern Punjab. Different development schemes, to the tune of billions of rupees, have been started for the prosperity of the people living there. Our aim is to ensure durable development of southern Punjab for benefiting the people in the real sense. He was talking to elected representatives of southern Punjab at his office on Friday. I fully understand the issues relating to the people of southern Punjab and southern Punjab districts have been given importance by the Punjab government in its development programme. He reiterated that people of backward districts of southern Punjab will be provided more and more facilities and their deprivation will be turned into happiness. I fully understand the problems of backward areas and the PTI government has particularly focused on development of such areas, he said. However, the claims of prosperity remained had limited to some specific areas in the past and the people of backward areas were ignored. National resources were wasted on exhibitory projects in the past but we have moved the direction of resources towards backward areas to benefit the citizens living there. The sense of deprivation of the southern Punjab will be removed due to the beneficial steps taken by the incumbent government, he said. Development and prosperity are the rights of every part of the province Usman Buzdar said that provision of various facilities of life to the people is the important agenda of the government. In fact, development and prosperity are the rights of every part of the province and keeping this thing in view, the backward areas have been given preference in the journey of development. The development of backward areas and welfare of the people is the mission of PTI government and we are striving hard to improve the standard of life of the people living in these areas, the Chief Minister concluded. Buzdar condemns attacks on two mosques in New Zealand Sardar Usman Buzdar strongly condemned firing at two masajid in New Zealand and expressed a deep sense of sorrow over the loss of precious human lives. He has extended sympathies to the bereaved heirs and prayed for the early recovery of the injured. We equally share the grief of the bereaved families, he added. The more the firing at Namaz-e-Juma congregation is condemned, the less it would be. There is a need to adopt effective measures to stop such tragic incidents in future as such incidents of terrorism are very tragic, he said. The terrorists playing with the innocent lives are not human but savage beast. They do not deserve any kindness but severe punishment. In fact, terrorism is a collective issue of all the nations of the world and collective efforts are needed to deal with this menace, the Chief Minister concluded. Published in Daily Times, March 16th 2019.