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CTBT signing

after national consensus,

says Musharraf

NAWABSHAH: Chief Executive Gen Pervez Musharraf here on Tuesday said that Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) would only be signed after a national consensus on the issue is evolved.

Addressing notables, growers and government functionaries at the Irrigation Rest House, he said that CTBT will be effective only after it was ratified and it will not affect the existing or already conducted tests and capability.

Giving the example of China, he said more than 150 countries, including Beijing, have signed the CTBT while a major chunk of countries, including the United States, have not yet ratified it. He said unless the treaty was signed and ratified by all the countries, "it will not be implemented".

He categorily stated that it was not correct to say that CTBT will be signed prior to the visit of the US president. "Neither are we in a state of hurry nor are we under any pressure on the signing of CTBT".

The chief executive said, "We want to introduce a system in the country which provides dispensation of justice to every citizen.

"We will not allow corrupt elements to win elections. Rather, we will encourage voters to elect righteous representatives who work with dedication to render service to their electorate and the country and not to merely promote their own vested interests or petty party gains". "In this regard, we are formulating necessary electoral reforms", he added.

The government functionaries, Gen Musharraf said, "will have to work under the authority of the elected representatives".

The government, he stated, was providing Rs 15 billion for carrying out uplift work and every district would approximately get Rs 1 million to Rs 15 million, which would be spent on development projects through coordination and consultation of elected representatives, local administration and members of the monitoring cell.

The allocated funds, the CE said, would be increased in the subsequent years and these would be released under the discretionary powers of the representatives of district governments, to carry out development works in their areas Ñ while the army monitoring cell will monitor all the process.

He said this would generate a zealous full-scale economic activity and open up new avenues of employment. "Hence, it would now be the duty of our citizens to elect genuine and devoted representatives".

He said, "We do not want to repeat the wrong-doings and irregularities of the past regimes when exorbitant rates used to be charged for average uplift projects.

"The position used to be that road construction charges in Pakistan were as high as those in the United States".ÑAPP