PESHAWAR, May 2: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cabinet on Wednesday expressed complete solidarity with Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, saying it had full confidence in Mr Gilani for upholding the Constitution and democracy in the country.

“Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti chaired the cabinet meeting, which endorsed the constitutional steps taken by the prime minister,” said Provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain while briefing media persons about the meeting.

He said that the Khyber Pakthunkhwa government was against confrontation among the state institutions. He said that the cabinet felt that there would be no problems if all state organs worked in their constitutional domains.

The information minister said that in the light of the federal government’s energy conservation plan, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government decided that all government offices would remain closed for two days in a week.

“The decision of two holidays in a week will be implemented forthwith,” Mr Hussain said.

The cabinet also urged other provinces to announce two holidays in a week to maintain uniformity in the country and conserve energy, as all the provinces had agreed with the federal government at a meeting held in Lahore on April 9, Mr Hussain said. He said that if other provinces didn’t implement the decision it would be a futile practice.Answering a question, he said that the office timings would remain unchanged, while markets would operate till 8:30pm.

The information minister said that the meeting discussed the Bannu jailbreak incident in detail, adding that the provincial government would call a special cabinet meeting on the final report of the inquiry committee, which was being finalised.

He said that instead of keeping the militants in different jails, the cabinet suggested that there should be a well-protected separate jail for militants to avert jailbreak incidents in future. He added that prison police were not usually equipped with arms and as such the cabinet decided to equip them with arms to avert any untoward situation inside jails in future. He said that for this purpose the jail police would also be provided different trainings.

He said that Inspector General of Police Akbar Khan Hoti also briefed the cabinet about law and order situation in the province. The minister quoted Mr Hoti as telling the meeting that five incidents of sectarianism had occurred in last four months, which included two in Hangu and one each in Kohistan and Mansehra.

He said that in first quarter of the current year, 97 people had been killed in 105 incidents of terrorism, including 25 police officials, 71 general public and one FC official, while 331 people were injured.

The information minister said that 21 government schools, 14 police vans, three other official vehicles, 45 private vehicles, four buildings of police stations, 10 shops, four electricity towers had been destroyed in last four months.

The traffic problem in Peshawar city was also discussed and the meeting decided that traffic engineering authority would be established on the pattern of one in Punjab, he said. In this connection, he said that construction work on different flyovers would be accelerated for immediate completion, while different underpasses and flyovers for vehicles would be constructed on the University Road.

The cabinet was informed about the recommendations concerning restoration of employees who were sacked from 1996 to 1998, he said. However, after consultations the cabinet directed the concerned committee, headed by Senior Minister Bashir Ahmed Bilour, to fine tune the recommendations and present them in next cabinet meeting, he said.