Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Budgetary allocation to the tune of Rs 50 million set aside for Nawaz Sharif Town in Miran Shah, the headquarters of North Waziristan, is most likely to lapse if the project is not approved during 2017-18 fiscal year, a senior official at the Ministry of Planning, Development and Reform said.

The total cost of the project is Rs 2 billion, according to a senior official at the ministry who wished to go unnamed because he is not authorised to speak to the media on the project.

“It is most likely that the amount will lapse because the project has not been approved at any forum,” he remarked.

When Member of the National Assembly (MNA) from North Waziristan Muhammad Nazeer was contacted to know about the status of the promised Nawaz Sharif Town, he disclosed that neither land had been allocated nor he saw any development activities on the ground.

“I have only been told about the release of Rs 50 million. I don’t know where that fund has been kept or gone,” Nazeer said.

He questioned whether the central government or the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) governor would be able to buy a few acres of land with that “meagre amount” that had been allocated for the town.

He said it was decided that the houses in the proposed model town in Miran Shah would be given to those affectees whose houses were damaged in the Miran Shah Bazaar during the military offensive against militants.

The military launched an offensive codenamed Operation Zarb-e-Azb in North Waziristan tribal region to flush out militants and their local collaborators back in 2014. The military operation triggered mass exodus of local families to safer places of the country.

Earlier this year, in February, even incumbent KP Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra while addressing tribal elders had reiterated to build the town and compensate the affectees of Miran Shah Bazaar.

He even went a step forward by saying that the Nawaz Sharif Town would have all the facilities and be a well-established society for the people of that area.

After Operation Zarb-e-Azb, the governor said that peace had been restored in FATA and across the country. He said that 90 percent of the temporarily displaced persons (TDPs) had returned to their native towns and the remaining would return soon.

However, the MNA said that he did not know whether there was any breakthrough on the issue among the stakeholders, such as the political administration and the tribal elders, on the acquisition of land for the proposed town.

Former additional inspector general (AIG) Rehmat Khan recalled that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had a long list of promises such as building an international airport in Bannu and universities in Swat and Lakki Marwat. “The Nawaz Sharif Town was a political gimmick to please his ally Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the chief of JUI-F, and enhance his vote bank there. The development of a model town in Miran Shah is a distant dream, which is far from reality,” he added.

Published in Daily Times, September 30^th 2017.