Qaim hits back at agitating nationalists

The people who are today criticising ‘temporary’ stay of IDPs in the province were tight-lipped over settlement of hundreds of thousands of outsiders in Karachi in the past, said the Chief Minister while adressing the Larkana Chamber of Commerce. - APP photo

LARKANA: Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah hit back at nationalists’ criticism of the government for allowing internally displaced persons to settle in the province and said the IDPs would stay here for a short time and go back once normality returned to their areas.

Addressing representatives of trade bodies of Larkana and Qambar-Shahdakdot districts here on Sunday, the chief minister said that the people who are today criticising ‘temporary’ stay of IDPs in the province were tight-lipped over settlement of hundreds of thousands of outsiders in Karachi in the past.

He said the government had set up camps for IDPs at the Sindh-Punjab border, Hyderabad, Hala and outside Karachi.

He announced that the government would procure the remaining stocks of the rain-damaged paddy and an amount of Rs800 million had been sanctioned for the purpose. The buying process would start within a couple of days, he added.

Mr Shah said the Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Supplies Corporation (Passco) had procured paddy from rice millers instead of growers. The prime minister had been informed about the Passco’s irregularities, he said.

The growers who possessed at least 15 acres would be provided paddy seed on credit, which would be recovered after the crop’s production.

‘We are in touch with the federal government to get the growers’ loans and interest in the range of Rs100,000 waived off,’ he said and assured the growers of early payment from Passco.

Responding to Masood Shaikh, president of Larkana Chamber of Commerce and Industry, he said that Larkana would be made a tax-free zone as it had already been declared as an economic zone.

DAWN: Monday, 01 Jun, 2009