Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Minister for Development and Planning Ahsan Iqbal has said those fomenting chaos in the country will have to be given a shut up call.

He said this while addressing the 24th meeting of the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) here on Thursday.

He held that former president Gen (Retd) Pervez Musharraf had tried to cut Balochistan from Pakistan with the help of an axe but democracy had again integrated Balochistan into the national mainstream.

He remarked:” The country was run under a status quo for 14 years in the energy sector. Pakistan had extra energy in 1999 and Pakistan was considering to export it.

When the PML-N came to power in 2013, the country was facing a power shortfall ranging between 6000 and 7000 megawatts. People were forced to come to the streets due to shortage of electricity. Load shedding had declined remarkably due to the government’s steps, he added. He underlined that Rs 100 billion funds had been provided to the railway which stood restored at present.

“We will have to give a shut up call to those fomenting chaos in the country otherwise who will make investment in the country?” he questioned.

He also said that “we will turn challenges into opportunities with the cooperation of engineers. Once Pakistan was at par with Korea, Malaysia and Singapore and now we will have to regain our lost status in exports. He underscored that continuity in policies was a must for national development. Direct foreign investment played a key role in the development of the country. Maintaining law and order in the country was a must for fetching foreign investment. Earlier, chairing a meeting on Smart School system he said the smart school system was aimed at imparting education through computes. This system would yield positive results, he added. The program was part of the prime minister’s (PM) education reforms programme for Islamabad. “Future’s better school is our vision”, he remarked.