NWFP Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti said on Tuesday that the government would not allow to derail the peace initiative in the province, saying that a broad-based Jirga would be formed to negotiate peace with the local militants.
Speaking at the oath-taking ceremony of the cabinet and governing body of Peshawar Press Club (PPC), he said that the government had already initiated confidence-building measures. He said the release of Maulana Sufi Mohammad of the Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariah Mohammadi was one of the major confidence-building steps of the provincial government.
The ceremony, which was also attended by provincial ministers, including Mian Iftikhar Hussein, Sardar Hussein Babak and several senior officials of the provincial government.
However, he linked the restoration of peace in the tribal region with that in the neighbouring Afghanistan. "Till the restoration of normalcy in Afghanistan, the establishment of peace in Fata is not possible," he said, adding that they were urging on the Federal government to follow our policy in the tribal area. Hoti also hinted at obtaining the services of Maulana Sufi Mohammad in the restoration of peace in both settled and tribal areas of the province.
He said that Awami National Party (ANP) had waged a long struggle for achievement of provincial autonomy and provincial rights for the province. The autonomy, he said, would cover all the three aspects including fiscal, financial and political.
About resources, he said the case would be plead with the Federal government to obtain resources for spending on changing the lot of the people. Regarding longstanding demand of the journalist community regarding starting of work on Durrani Media Colony, the Chief Minister said that the scheme was facing two irritants of the refugee camp followed by a case in the judiciary.
However, he was confident that the matter would be resolved shortly. On the demands of the journalists, he announced extension of three marla scheme and also approved the allotment of 40 additional plots to adjust the new journalists.
He increased the annual grant of the press club from rupees one million to Rs 1.5 million, beside announcement of another amount of rupees one million for arranging inter-provincial visits of the journalists. He also announced a fund of Rs 0.3 million for purchase of computers for the press club. Earlier, the chief minister administered oath to the cabinet and governing body of the press club.
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