LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar has said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led government allocated a 32 percent job quota for south Punjab and established the South Punjab secretariat, thus giving the region financial and administrative independence.

In a statement issued on Friday, the CM said his government had allocated 35 percent of the total development budget to south Punjab and ring-fenced it to avoid misuse of the funds. “Similarly, a separate book was also compiled to detail its share of the development budget,” he added.

He averred that backward districts in south Punjab were equally treated in the journey of development, as development is the right of everyone. “South Punjab has joined the journey of development; more development funds were provided to it than in the past to heal the sense of deprivation,” he added.

The CM termed Imran Khan as a consensus leader of 220 million Pakistanis and asserted that the nation wants him as their ruler. “National politics is incomplete without Imran Khan, as the nation has full faith in him. The PM has my backing whatever decision he takes,” he added.

Meanwhile, he paid tributes to the two martyred officials who embraced martyrdom in an operation against terrorists in the Mushqai area of Balochistan. He extended sympathies to bereaved heirs and termed the martyred officials as heroes who thwarted the nefarious designs of the terrorists by sacrificing their lives.

“The nation pays tributes to them and their sacrifice would never be forgotten,” he said and added that the morale of the nation could not be disturbed by the coward activities of the terrorists.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022