'No military action to be initiated in Balochistan'

Punjab Governor, Lieutenant-General Khalid Maqbool (Retd) said on Wednesday that more packages for the uplift of Balochistan was in the offing, while no military action would be initiated in the province. While talking to newsmen after the prize/diploma distribution ceremony of Institute of Bankers Pakistan (IBP), Khalid further said that only security measures were taken in Sui to safeguard the gas installations.
He offered the opposition to join in their efforts to strengthen the country and contribute in the developmental work. He was of the view that for the first time in the history of Pakistan we were seeing economic growth, however we need political stability and no uncertainty for this growth to continue. "Better law and order situation and good relations with the opposition was part of the President's and Prime Minister's agenda," he added.
While addressing the function, the governor said that micro credit for lower-middle class and small and medium enterprise (SME) sector was a big challenge, hence the bankers should devise a mechanism under which loans could be given without collateral guarantee. "Moreover, the government heavily investing in infrastructural development, and the private sector and banks should come forward and share the burden," he added.
According to him, the bankers should introduce a product that replaces pensions and gratuity. Moreover, the work on Islamic banking should progress, as many people were interested in doing business with those banks that worked on Islamic mode. In this connection, Pakistan could serve as a role model in the Islamic world.
While congratulating the successful candidates, he suggested to IBP to produce high quality professional bankers, as they were the assets of the country.
Chief Executive of IBP, Muhammad Saleem Umer said that with the support of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the institute would launch a SME sector loaning training programme in March for bankers. He further said that IBP glossary on banking for the year 2005 would be published soon.