PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Tuesday claimed that the law and order situation arising in Swat a few days ago had been effectively tackled due to timely measures adopted by the law-enforcement agencies under the personal supervision of the chief minister.

Briefing reporters after the cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, spokesman for the government Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif said the forum reviewed the overall security situation in the province and expressed satisfaction about it.

He said the the ceasefire with the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan was intact and no major terrorist incident had occurred that might have created mistrust between the group and the government.

The spokesman, however, said there were some groups, which were opposed to the TTP’s peace accord, so their involvement in the terrorism-related incidents in the province could not be ruled out.

“We [government] assure the people that there is nothing to worry as the provincial government will maintain its writ in the province at all costs and no compromise would be made on the solidarity of the country, safety of the people as well as maintenance of peace,” he said.

He added that reports regarding deteriorating law and order situation on social media were totally false and fabricated.

Barrister Saif said the cabinet approved enhancing the minimum wage as Rs26,000 per month for different categories of workers working in all government industrial establishments of the province with effect from July 1, 2022, as per announcement of the chief minister on the floor of the house during the budget session.

Regarding private industrial units, he said the cabinet decided that the matter would be decided by the KP Minimum Wages Board.

It also approved an extension in the tenure of Mukhtiar Khan of Usharai Darra area in Upper Dir district for two years as non-official member of the Forest Development Corporation (FDC) price committee to smoothly run the affairs of the committee.

In addition, the cabinet gave its approval to declare Bashqar Gol area of Upper Chitral district in the Chitral Wildlife Division as the biosphere reserve under the KP Wildlife and Biodiversity (Protection, Preservation, Conservation and Management) Act, 2015.

The biosphere reserve consists of 89,374 hectares that provides prime habitat for certain wild animals including snow leopard, Himalayan brown bear, Himalayan lynx, cape hare, Red Fox, Himalayan ibex and Tibetan wolf.

Barrister Saif also informed that the cabinet also approved to declare Shahi Nagar Ghoor Dara of Daggar sub-division of Buner as the community game reserve.

Barrister Saif said that the cabinet also approved the KP Factories Rules, 2022 to regulate the matters with regard to labour in factories of the province.

The cabinet also decided to withdraw its earlier approval with regard to the appointment of Manzoor Ahmad as the chief executive officer of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Transmission and Grid System Company and allowed the energy and power department to float fresh advertisement for the post under the laid-down procedure.

The cabinet also approved the minimum support price of wheat crop in the year 2022-23 as Rs2,600 per 40kg as worked out by the ‘cost production committee’ on the basis of a survey conducted throughout the province.

The minimum support price of wheat crop for the last year 2021-22 was Rs2,200 per 40kg. The recommendations of the provincial government will be shared with the federal Ministry of National Food Security and Research.

Barrister Saif said the cabinet approved the establishment of the Darul Aman Crisis Centre in place of the Working Women Hostel, Hayatabad, the KP Mines Rules, 2022, and the provision of 107 acres of land for the fencing of Mohmand Dam. It also decided to refer the matter of the holding of the PMS and CSS examinations simultaneously to the Provincial Public Service Commission for reviewing the PMS exam schedule to enable candidates to sit both exams.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2022