President directs planned relief operations
By Our Special Correspondent

ISLAMABAD—President General Pervez Musharraf directed Pak Army for extending relief goods to the affected people of the earthquake hit areas on priority, permanent and planned manner.
President gave this directive during presiding a high level meeting in Aiwan-e-Sadr to review relief operations in the quake-hit areas. The meeting was also attended by the Pak Army high officials.
He stressed the need for logistic support continuation aimed to reach the relief to all the deserved people in the hit areas.
President was briefed about the relief goods arrival, hoarding it on the country air-bases, railway stations and on other places and than its dispatching to the affected areas of the tremor hit areas.
President General Pervez Musharraf lauded relief operations urged for its continuation on permanent basis to the affectees aimed at shortage should not occur of edibles in the tremor stricken areas.
He also urged for planned relief operations in areas in order to reach the relief goods to real affected people.
Musharraf directed relief operations should be continued on priority in the affected areas before the winter start and ensured the availability of relief goods to all the affected people.
He also lauded military role in providing relief to the affectees of inaccessible areas saying Pak Army were conducting relief operations in the affected areas with the true spirit of altruism.
He said those would be dealt with an iron hands who were trying to plunder relief goods of the affectees.
APP adds: Appreciating the dedication and spirit of the Armed Forces in carrying out unprecedented relief operations in the earthquake-stricken areas, President General Pervez Musharraf Monday emphasized the need for continuous chain of logistics to ensure unbroken supply of goods to the victims.
He was addressing a meeting which had an overview of massive relief operations being carried out by the armed forces from arrival of relief goods to their transportation and delivery through 45 grass-roots nodal points in the quake-hit areas. “The chain of relief supplies must continue ceaselessly in the days ahead for their prompt provision at all places as well as for earliest alleviation of the sufferings of the affected people”, he said.
The President said the relief aid must reach at the earliest to the deserving people and the areas in want of it.
Vice Chief of the Army Staff Gen Ahsan Saleem Hyat, Head of the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA) Lt Gen Muhammad Zubair, Federal Relief Commissioner Maj Gen Farooq Ahmed Khan and senior officers of Pakistan Army and Air Force, overseeing reception, transportation and delivery of the relief goods attended the meeting.
The President was briefed about the entire process of ferrying relief assistance — from its arrival and sorting out at the airbase, railway station and collection centres across the country to its transportation and delivery in the affected areas.
The President observed that the bottlenecks earlier facing the logistics have been removed as round-the-clock endeavours by the army engineers have reopened the majority of blocked routes to ferry relief goods to remote areas.
“We should continue to strive for reaching out to people in remote areas by air, road and through animal transport and here I would like to salute the soldiers who have accessed remote areas on foot to provide life-saving goods in the most difficult of terrains”.