By Riaz Khan Daudzai
Talking to reporters after visiting the Lady Reading Hospital to enquire after the victims of the Thursday blast, Mian Shahbaz Sharif said the people of the NWFP deserved a salute for their unflinching fight against the militancy. “It is not the war of the province but of survival of the country which the people of the Frontier province are fighting with bravery,” he said.
The Punjab chief minister said he understands the pain of the people of the NWFP and they would not be left alone in this hour of trial. “The people of Punjab will stand by their brethren in the Frontier through all thick and thin,” he said, adding that the people of Punjab would extend every possible help to their Pakhtun brethren as they shared their problems.
Shahbaz Sharif, who was accompanied by NWFP Chief Minister Ameer Haider Hoti and Provincial Ministers Bashir Ahmed Bilour and Mian Iftikhar Hussain, said the Punjab was committed to supporting the NWFP in its fight against the militancy. He said the Punjab government was building a hospital in Swat and the people of his province had donated Rs750 million for the project. He said the hospital would be a gift from the people of Punjab for the militancy-affected people of the Malakand Division.
The Punjab chief minister said that the people of the Frontier province lived up to their centuries-old tradition of rendering sacrifices. “The sacrifices rendered for the survival of the country will bear fruits. They will emerge victorious from the hard situation they are facing and Pakistan will remain forever,” he said referring to the troubles of the people of the NWFP in the face of militancy.
Shahbaz Sharif reiterated his support to the provincial government to meet the challenge of the growing militancy. The NWFP chief minister also spoke to the media and lauded the good-will gesture of the Punjab chief minister. He also sought his help in raising the Rescue 1122-like service in the NWFP and said that within two month the forces would be raised for which the assistance of the Punjab would be sought to train them.
Hoti also appreciated the assistance the Punjab had provided to the province in the difficult time it is passing through and said they weighed and valued it a lot. He said the people of Punjab had never left their Pakhtun brethren alone in difficult times. He also expressed gratitude to the Punjab chief minister for his financial and emotional help he offered the government and people of the NWFP.
Earlier, Hoti and Shahbaz went into a one-on-one meeting at the Frontier House soon after the arrival of the Punjab chief minister wherein matters of mutual interest were discussed. The two chief ministers also took round of wards at the LRH where they met those who were injured in the Thursday’s blast.