NWFP Governor Khalil-ur-Rehman and Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani had a meeting at the Governor's House here on Sunday and reviewed the law and order situation in the province and its adjoining Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) together with the steps being taken for ensuring safety and security of the people and the pace of work on the ongoing development projects.
They also reviewed the outcomes of the ongoing measures being adopted by various government agencies both in the province and Fata. The meeting, however, agreed that steps should have to be taken to resolve the law and order problems in Fata in accordance with the traditions and customs of the area people.
In this connection, the meeting also reviewed the progress with regard to the constitution of the tribal Jirga in the light of the announcement made by President General Pervez Musharraf, while addressing the grand tribal Jirga at Governor's House, Peshawar most recently.
In this connection, it was decided to continue joint efforts to resolve the law and order problem in North Waziristan Agency.
Later on, talking briefly with the representatives of electronic-media, the governor said that a Jirga is being constituted as a part of the efforts to resolve the law and order problems in North Waziristan Agency and when a consensus would be developed between both parties with regard its role and powers, it would formally start functioning.
Khalil-ur-Rehman expressed the confidence that the proposed Jirga would be in a position to successfully contribute towards the resolution of the problem in accordance with the aspirations of the respective people.
Responding to a question on the role of the political parties with regard to the constitution of the proposed Jirga, the governor said that co-operation from any quarter would be welcomed to restore peace and normalcy in Fata.
In fact, he said both the federal and the provincial governments have unanimity on the ongoing efforts to maintain law and order in Fata and expressed the confidence that these efforts would be successful.
To a point regarding the required needs to ensure maintenance of law and order in the province, the governor said indeed the insufficient police force is the basic cause in this respect.
However, he pointed out, the ongoing efforts to withdraw the contingents of Frontier Constabulary from other parts of the country and increase the strength of the Police Force are quite encouraging and expressed the confidence that the materialisation of all such initiatives would definitely prove helpful in tackling problems of law and order.
Akram Khan Durrani, in his remarks, said: "The difficulties being confronted in Fata are our joint problems, and we all are jointly making efforts to resolve them.
He said he had always supported the ideas of amicably resolving the problems in Fata through the traditional Jirga system and the decision to constitute a Jirga is really quite a big initiative in this respect.
Durrani also expressed the confidence that the proposed Jirga would come up to the expectations.
To ensure maintenance of law and order in Fata, the chief minister said the lack of the presence of Frontier Constabulary's units is also one of the major causes in this connection and he is making serious efforts not only to ensure the posting of sufficient strength of the Frontier Constabulary in Fata, but also to increase the strength of police force to maintain the law and order situation in the province as well.