PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan on Tuesday directed the finance department to provide the required funds to the police department on priority basis for the procurement of vehicles, equipment and other logistics in tribal districts.

“Strengthening of the police department in merged tribal districts is the priority of my government,” the chief minister told a meeting of the provincial task force on merged tribal districts at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat here.

According to a statement issued here, Mr Mahmood also asked the health, education and police departments to develop work plans with regard to the requirements of infrastructure and human resources in the region.

He said the relevant authorities should immediately provide the required additional staff for the speedy payment of compensation to the residents of tribal districts under the Citizen Losses Compensation Package.

The chief minister directed the board of revenue to compile the database of all required land for the establishment of government buildings in tribal districts.Ministers Taimur Salim Jhagra, Shaukat Yousafzai and Anwarzeb, special assistant to the chief minister Kamran Bangash, Peshawar Corps Commander Lt-General Noman Mahmood, chief secretary Dr Kazim Niaz, additional chief secretary Shakeel Qadir, the provincial police and Frontier Corps chiefs, and other senior civil and military officers attended the meeting.

The meeting was informed that implementation of decisions taken in the previous task force meeting was in progress.

According to officials, the draft of proposed law for the resolution of local issues through jirga will be submitted to the cabinet in the next meeting for approval.

Also, three forest checkposts have been established in South Waziristan to check the illegal felling of trees in forests, while work on two additional checkposts is in progress.

The officials said land acquisition had begun for the establishment of judiciary and other government offices, while significant progress had been made on the development of an agricultural park in Wana area of South Waziristan tribal district.

The chief minister approved the proposal for the running of three Category-D hospitals in Bajaur tribal district on the basis of public-private partnership.

Published in Dawn, October 28th, 2020