NA committee suspicious of South Waziristan audit reports

Author: By Ijaz Kakakhel

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly’s committee on State and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) has shown its apprehensions over audit reports regarding the accounts of South Waziristan Agency (SWA), which shows large scale embezzlement in the funds.

The committee meeting was held under the chairmanship of Maulana Jamal Din on Monday. The committee asked the federal government to take back the money from the administration of other agencies, which was given to them from the fund of Rs 850 million allocated for Aman Lashkar in South Waziristan Agency to be spent on developmental projects in SWA.

The meeting was told that out of Rs 850 million, some Rs 230 million was distributed among Aman Lashkar through Political Agent, while the remaining amount of Rs 610 million was returned to FATA Secretariat, out of which it gave Rs 240.83 million to other agencies, with Rs 360 million still in the accounts of FATA Secretariat.

The committee was told that the money received from the contracts of natural resources of the agency was spent unchecked before 2014. The total income from SWA on account of permits and other resources was Rs 710.23 million during the last four years, whereas the expenditure during that period was Rs 710.63 million

The committee also recommended that the development fund of Rs 100 million for the progress of SWA announced by former Governor of KP Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan may be released and the appointment of 600 youths of South Waziristan Agency in Levis Force may also be made as early as possible.

The committee also instructed parliamentarians from FATA and Mashrans of the area that they should behave better with the tribal people so that their sense of inferiority may be finished.