PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak on Thursday said it was the responsibility of the federal government to initiate peace talks with the Taliban in light of the recommendations of the September 8 All Parties Conference held in Islamabad.

“Our coalition government in the province will support centre for beginning negotiations with the Taliban to bring lasting peace to the region,” Mr Khattak told reporters after meeting opposition leader Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan in his chambers at the provincial assembly secretariat.

During the meeting, various issues, including the proposed dialogue between the government and the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, general law and order situation and proposed reforms in the province, and working relations between treasury and opposition benches came under discussion.

The chief minister said the Islamabad APC had given full authority to the centre to hold talks with the Taliban and provincial government would support it. He said the APC was successful and all political forces were on the same page on the matter.

“The federal government will formulate guidelines for talks with the Taliban,” he said.

Regarding controversy over the appointment of the parliamentary secretaries in the province, he said some circles including media had made hue and cry although there was no legal or constitutional restrictions on the appointment of parliamentary secretaries. He said as the chief executive of the province, he had the powers to appoint parliamentary secretaries.

On the occasion, Sardar Mehtab said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was badly affected due to violence and militancy during the last one decade.

He said his party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, would not become part of any plan to destabilise the PTI-led coalition government in the province. He dispelled the impression that his party was supporting the formation of a ‘forward bloc’ in PTI to bring in-house change in the province.

ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS: During question-answer session law and parliamentary affairs minister Israrullah Khan Gandapur informed the House that dengue cases had been detected in parts of Malakand, Mardan and Peshawar divisions.

Replying to a volley of supplementary questions, he said 3151 dengue cases had been detected in Swat district which is the most affected area while 50 cases had been registered in Mardan district. He said such cases had been registered in Malakand, Buner and Peshawar.

He said on the special directives of the chief minister the government released Rs60 million to health authorities in Swat district on Thursday to cope with the situation while a total of 6800 kits had been supplied.

“Situation is alarming in these districts,” he said and agreed with the opposition’s proposal to seek technical assistance from the Punjab government to cope with the dengue outbreak.

Speaking on a supplementary question, Awami National Party MPA Ahmad Khan Bahadur said the provincial government had shifted some hardened criminals from others prisons of the province to the District Jail Mardan.

He said the District Jail Mardan had not been protected properly therefore government should not shift prisoners involved in high profile cases to Mardan.

Several lawmakers pointed out that the patients couldn’t benefit from the equipments and machines at the hospitals because these were out of order and had gone into disuse due to unavailability of the relevant technicians.

They also said the people had been tested positive hepatitis because of the use of the infected dialysis machine at the province’s biggest Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar.

Replying to a point of order, special assistant to chief minister Dr Meher Taj Roghani said there was no rehabilitation centre for drug addicts in the country due to which the government was unable to rehabilitate the people, who quit narcotics at the detoxification centres. She expressed surprise that addicts were being supplied with narcotics in the city despite presence of police, anti-narcotic forces and other agencies. Dr Meher said there should be a joint monitoring committee to track down the route of supply to addicts.