NWFP Governor Lieutenant General Ali Muhammad Jan Aurakzai (Retd) has said that cease-fire was the first major step towards restoration of permanent peace in Waziristan, saying "a lot more is to come as we are addressing every aspect of the issue and moving forward gradually and cautiously".
He expressed these views while presiding over a conference held at the Governor's House here on Monday, which besides the head of various law enforcing agencies was also attended by the Chief Secretary Ejaz Ahmad Qureshi, Secretary Fata Muhammad Shahzad Arbab and Secretary to Governor Arbab Muhammad Arif.
The Conference, second of the series was aimed at to co-ordinate efforts of various agencies and civil administrations to bring an effective control over law and order problems and criminal activities in Fata as well as certain settled districts bordering the tribal areas.
The Governor said that peace was our main objective and cease-fire was the first step in this direction. "Under a well thought out strategy we are moving to address all the things, he said."
The co-ordination conference will be held periodically to identify the trouble spots and co-ordinate efforts between the Governor's Secretariat, the law enforcement agencies and the respective administrations.
The Governor said that through this forum we will evaluate the problems and suggest effective co-ordination to deal with the emerging situation. "We will continue to meet once in a month and address all the issues concerning the law and order situation", he added.
Secretary Fata Muhammad Shahzad Arbab highlighted various trouble spots as well as the measures initiated by the Governor's Secretariat Fata and respective administrations.
On Waziristan issue the Governor underlined the importance of political work to address the issue through a dialogue process and reiterated that negotiation and peaceful settlement would continue to be the first option. He stressed that we have to eliminate the trend that challenges writ of the government.
The issues which came up for discussion included the Waziristan and Bara situation, criminal activities in certain districts of the province and measures taken to check the movement of unwanted and criminal elements between the settled and tribal areas.
The meeting was satisfied by the level of co-ordination between various government agencies and vowed to further strengthen it to achieve more tangible results.