The Senate Standing Committee on States and Frontier Regions was Thursday informed that as many as 547 cases of AIDS/HIV have surfaced in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) in recent years, but no treatment centre has been set up in the area to treat the patients. The meeting of the committee was held here in the Parliament House with Senator Hilal-ur-Rehman in the chair.
The committee members were informed that some 547 cases of AIDS/HIV have come to light in the FATA in recent years, but no proper treatment centre has been established yet to treat the patients. The North Waziristan Agency is leading with 133 HIV/AIDS patients in the tribal area while the officials informed the committee members that they have been facing acute shortage of the staff to cater to the needs of the patients.
The committee chairman said that condition of the FATA hospitals is deplorable despite spending billions of rupees for improvement of the health sector. The committee members also urged the FATA officials to adopt a proper procedure to document the HIV/AIDS patients in the tribal area and provide them with proper treatment.
The members also expressed their dissatisfaction over billions of rupees development projects that were initiated in the area in the last couple of years, saying the projects are least beneficial to the locals but help the influential siphon off the money through contracts. The members said the discriminatory attitude of the federal government towards the FATA people is increasing a sense of deprivation among them and this is totally unacceptable to them.
The committee members were informed that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government announced in 2007 to give 50 percent extra allowance on basic pay of male professors and 100 percent extra allowance on basic pay of the female professors working in the tribal area, but this has yet to be materialized. The committee was urged to request the KP government to give Hard Area Allowance to the teachers of the province who have been working in the tribal areas.
The committee chairman said that nobody listens to complaints of the teachers unless they resort to protests against the government. He also gave two-week time to the relevant FATA Secretariat officials to resolve the issue of the teachers. The committee chairman also directed the secretary Law FATA to address the confusion in allocation of the funds for rehabilitation of temporarily displaced persons.
He said the federal government has allocated Rs 45 billion for repatriation and rehabilitation of the temporarily displaced persons of the tribal areas and another Rs 45 billion were allocated for improvement in law and order. Hilal-ur-Rehman said the FATA Secretariat has clubbed both the funds released under the PSDP and this confusion should be clarified at the earliest.
The committee has sought a detailed report on the issue of funds allocation from relevant government departments and decided to refer the matter to Public Accounts Committee too for its early resolution.
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