QUETTA: Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Wednesday that he was glad that Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government had launched a string of development projects in Balochistan.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of different development projects in Quetta, Imran Khan said every party which came to power had an ideology. “My belief is Allah (The Almighty) gives respect to that person who delivers for people,” he said, and added similarly the people remembered only those who had served humanity.

“Past governments didn’t give attention to Balochistan’s uplift,” he lamented, adding Pakistan will progress if underprivileged areas are brought into the mainstream. He said China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Western Route will usher in a new chapter of development in the province.

“The PTI government has built over 3,000 kilometers long roads in Balochistan during the last three years in office,” he said, while quoting the figures given by Federal Minister for Communications and Postal Services Murad Saeed, and added Balochistan needed connectivity the most since here there were large distances.

He claimed that no other government had spent as much money on Balochistan as the PTI government had spent. He directed the concerned officials that the condition of roads in the province should be such that everybody appreciates that each and every penny from the allocated funds was spent.

PM Imran said when PTI came to power in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) in 2013, the province was in tatters. “Around 500 policemen had been killed in the war on terror, and the Force was demoralized,” he said, and added everybody used to criticize the PTI and say that the party stood little chance to regain power in the next general elections.

“But contrary to public perception, when 2018 elections were held, PTI again came to power in KP, and that was because of PTI governments’ ‘good governance’,” PM Imran said.

He said when Pakistan was disintegrated in 1971, though the majority of Pakistanis were feeling heartbroken, still there were people who heaved a sigh of relief that at last West Pakistan would not now have to pay to the eastern wing for the losses caused by cyclones and other natural disasters.

“But look, Bangladesh is way ahead of us now,” the prime minister said.

He said it was an irony that the country’s politicians had assets even in those areas of London where even the UK prime ministers could not purchase a property. “Pakistan will develop only when poor people are lifted out of poverty,” he said.

Earlier, PM Imran Khan performed the groundbreaking of various projects in Quetta, including 22-kilometer long dualization of Quetta Western Bypass (N-25) and construction of 11-kilometer long Dera Murad Jamali Bypass (N-65). The prime minister also distributed cheques among deserving people under the Kamyab Jawan Programme.

He was also briefed on the overall situation of Balochistan and the development projects. NNI