‘Govt taking steps to improve Railways’

By Asim Hussain

ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Law and Justice Malik Shahadat Awan on Thursday informed the Senate that government is taking steps to improve the performance of Pakistan Railways (PR) and would provide maximum facilities to the people.
Replying to supplementary questions during Questions Hour in Senate, he expressed the hope that there would be an outstanding performance of railways in future, adding that the last three years performance of PR was in front of us as number of tragic accidents took place.
Awan said that ministry had purchased 20 locomotives in 2017, adding that at present all the DE locomotives are in working condition.”The reliability and availability of this particular fleet has mostly remained above 95 percent against the bench marck of 85% “, he added.
Shahadat Awan said that the Railways infrastructure in Balochistan is being maintained as per available resources in order to provide safe and secure travel to the passengers. Minister of State said that Railway Track in Balochistan consists of Sibi Quetta-Chaman, Spezand-Taftan and Sibi-Hurnai and some portion of Jacobabad Sibi Section. He said that improvement of passengers’ amenities has been carried out by providing wash room, drinking water and renovation of waiting rooms at various station buildings.

‘Imran supports strong army’

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Thursday said that Imran Khan’s love for the country is known by everyone and he is a supporter of strong army.
Former foreign Minister Qureshi said that every citizen of Pakistan can even die for the security and survival of the country and people know when we did mistakes in the past, Pakistan was divided and due to our mistakes from past, Balochistan saw political turmoil and warmongers in past also tried to make ‘Pakhtoonistan’. “People must learn from their mistakes in the past,” he said. Qureshi further added that fighting with the economic instability is a very big challenge for us and due to the current political situation, the country can go bankrupt, adding, God forbids if the country will be bankrupted, more restrictions will be made on the country and our defense assets will also affected by these restrictions.

The PTI leader went on to say that Pakistan Army protects our national,
geographical, ideological boundaries. Imran Khan wants institutions to be
stronger.