Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s caretaker CM, Muhammad Azam Khan, stated on Monday that the provincial government’s top priority is the accelerated development of the merged districts. Extra care and attention are needed to bring these underdeveloped areas up to speed with the rest of the province. Muhammad Azam Khan gave this statement while addressing the 11th meeting of the Provincial Task Force (PTF) on combined districts. He stated that upholding peace and order in the merged territories is the province’s top priority and that all necessary resources will be made available for that purpose.
The CM lauded the role and efforts of security forces in restoring peace in these areas and remarked that the provincial government highly valued the role of security forces.
The CM maintained that the province is heavily dependent on federal transfers for its revenue. But due to non-payment of its shares in various hands by the federal government, the provincial government is facing financial crunches. That is badly affecting the overall development process of the province, especially the merged areas. The caretaker provincial government, since the very first day of its inception, has been taking up the issue.
The meeting reviewed in detail the progress on various social sector developmental projects. They also discussed matters related to the capacity building of the police force, initiatives for economic revival and other related matters in the merged areas. A number of important decisions were taken.
The participants of the meeting were briefed about the implementation status of the decisions taken in the last meeting of the forum. It was decided in the meeting to upscale the overall capacity of police in the merged district. This is to enable it to effectively deal with the prevailing situation. It was also agreed to take special measures to strengthen the police in all aspects, including transport, communication, training, etc. The concerned authorities were directed to take the necessary steps to absorb the remaining Levies/Khasadar personnel into regular police.
The meeting decided to withdraw police personnel deputed to unauthorized individuals for security purposes. Moreover, it was decided in principle to establish a high security prison at provincial level. Whereas the concerned quarters were directed to expedite the process of establishing Forensic Science Laboratory and implementation of Safe City Peshawar Project.
