PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cabinet on Thursday decided to relax rules to enable the government to hand over 19 kanals of forest land to the Pakistan Army for setting up a military cantonment in Swat district.

Spokesman for the government Shaukat Yousafzai told reporters after the cabinet’s meeting that the forest land was part of over 75 kanals of the government land to be provided for the establishment of the military cantonment in the valley.

He said the government would offer its land measuring 75 kanals and nine marlas, including 19 kanals and 14 marlas of forest land, for Swat cantonment.

Cabinet says graft cases shouldn’t be highlighted until strong evidence collected

Mr Yousafzai said as the forest land under the rules could neither be leased out nor put to use for any other purpose, the cabinet had to relax those rules for the purpose.

He said the Pakistan Army had restored peace in Swat valley after rendering huge sacrifices and the decision to set up a cantonment there was made after the elimination of militancy.

The cabinet also discussed the process of abolishing the Ehtesab Commission as decided by it in its first meeting earlier this month.

Mr Yousafzai said the cabinet reviewed the progress on its decision to abolish the accountability body (KPEC).

He said the commission had been directed to provide the details of its staff, cases, references, assets and liabilities to the government.

The spokesman said following the commission’s abolition, the government would empower the anti-corruption establishment (ACE).

He said it was agreed that unless strong evidence of the corruption of suspects in cases were collected, the case should not be highlighted in the media to prevent embarrassment.

Mr Yousafzai said the cabinet also approved the return of Rs2 billion borrowed by the forest and environment department for the government’s flagship Billion Tree Tsunami afforestation programme, to the Hydel Development Fund.

He said the cabinet approved the establishment of Directorate of Drugs Control and Pharmacy Services, which the chief minister linked to the corruption-free scientific monitoring mechanism.

Mr Yousafzai said approval was also granted to the posting of three district and session judges to the anti-terrorism court and repatriation of the ATC judges to the Peshawar High Court.

He said the cabinet also approved the issuance of certification for registration of publishing and printing of the Holy Quran to two firms, including Mohammad Iqbal Tasheeul Quran Trust, Abbottabad, and Hashmat Ali Al-Ilm Publication, Peshawar, to ensure error-free publication.

The cabinet also approved an amendment bill to regularise the services of the employees of the transport department and the clearance of liabilities of 117 development projects amounting to Rs2.92 billion.

He said several contractors faced problems due to delay in payments but they would get their liabilities after relevant forums including planning and development department cleared the work they had executed.

The spokesman said the cabinet also approved a proposal to keep the laws prevalent in the erstwhile Pata intact.

The bill will be tabled before the provincial assembly next session, while the cabinet also approved additional land acquisition for Mataltan hydropower project.

A statement issued here said CM Mahmood Khan ordered the resolution of the people’s problems regarding Dasu dam’s construction.

He also sought recommendations for reforms in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Public Service Commission to free it from all sorts of influence, including political one, and said the province needed talented and capable youths to manage its affairs efficiently.

He promised tourism promotion and said a task force had already been formed for the purpose.

Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2018