Daily Times

PESHAWAR: Caretaker Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Justice (r) Dost Muhammad Khan and interim Minister for Information, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Syed Ali Zafar Wednesday agreed to the overall rehabilitation and reconstruction of newly merged districts of erstwhile FATA into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

They also agreed to install an efficient governance structure, giving quick relief to the people of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and more importantly bringing them into the national stream.

The minister briefed the chief minister on the quick measures, transfer of resources from the federal government to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, legal irritants, constitutional position, proposed exemption of FATA from federal and provincial taxes and collective responsibility for the infrastructure development in the newly merged districts. The federal government would be recommended certain incentives, relief and expeditious transfer of resources for the overall recovery plan for rehabilitation and reconstruction of the newly merged districts, he assured.

The chief minister said that tribal people had suffered heavily and the government would have to provide them quick relief to win them back. He said that the provincial government had already started working on preparing a plan for infrastructure development and more importantly the quick rehabilitation of tribal people. He had already set up a task force, which was working round the clock to remove lacunas in the law, making it compatible with the ground realities in tribal areas. The chief minister said the government was making all-out efforts to extend efficient services to the tribal areas and ensure their accessibility to the people. The extension of the jurisdiction of provincial offices to the new districts and giving proper training to officers to be posted there had also been planned.

He stressed that no lacuna should be left as the same might be exploited by miscreants. Mainstreaming the tribal areas should be the most focused area, he added.

The two sides agreed on continuation of the Riwaj system, besides extension of legal procedures, along with Lungi and provision of monthly stipend to Ulema. The rehabilitation and the recovery plan should take into account the interest of all segments of the society, they added. The abrupt removal of system already in vogue could disturb the situation in the region and might also overburden the legal course, they observed.

Published in Daily Times, July 5^th 2018.