Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor Sardar Mahtab Ahmad Khan on Monday has said that the prosperity of Pakistan and peace of the whole region is linked with the sustainable peace and stability in Federal Administered Tribal areas.
He said comprehensive initiatives have been taken to alleviate poverty, backwardness and to reduce the sense of deprivation of tribal people and bring them in the mainstream with the rest of country adding that backwardness and lawlessness is not the destiny of tribesmen. He stated the future of tribal region would be decided with the wishes and aspirations of tribesmen.
He expressed these views while chairing a high-level meeting of the senate Standing Committee on Defence here at Governor's house on Monday. Besides, Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pervez Khattak and Corps Commander Peshawar Lieutenant General Hidayat ur Rehman ,Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Defence Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed, Senator Farhatullah Babar, Senator Ilyas Bilour, Senator Abdul Qayyum, Senator Salahuddin Tirmizi, Senator Attaur Rehman, Senator Hidayatullah Khan, Senator Javed Abbasi, Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Amjad Ali Khan, Additional Chief Secretary FATA Muhammad Aslam Kamboh, IGP Nasir Khan Durrani, and concerned officials attended the meeting.
The participants of the meeting vowed to bring the tribesmen in the mainstream of the national development by initiating solid and comprehensive reforms package for Fata.
The meeting deliberated on various aspects of current security situation in FATA and KPK and discussed implementation of the reconstruction and rehabilitation strategy for FATA.
Addressing the meeting, the Governor urged the world community to play their due role in the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the tribal region of Pakistan as the tribesmen suffered a lot due to extremism and militancy and paid a heavy price for the maintenance of peace and stability in the region.
The Committee lauded the close liaison between FATA Administration, provincial government and security forces for the establishment of peace in tribal areas and expressed that the existence of the terrorists would not be tolerated in the tribal areas and highly appreciated the exemplary cooperation between the security forces, and the tribal population to this effect.
The Governor said the incumbent government was well aware of the problems and difficulties of tribal people and every step would be taken to utilise all available resources for their complete rehabilitation. He said the 400,000 TDPs have already returned to their native homes since the start of the repatriation process in March this year. The repatriated tribesmen have been provided relief package in a transparent manner, he further added.
He said that for the establishment of peace in Fata, a special levy force was being raised on modern lines. He stated that keeping in view the ground realities, local government system would be introduced in Fata. The Governor said the incumbent government has the firm resolve to eliminate terrorism and extremism and measures have been taken to provide security to the people.
Secretary Law and order Fata Shakil Qadir briefed the meeting in detail regarding the prevailing law and order situation in Fata. The participants of the meeting were also briefed on the reforms in Fata and the steps being taken to ensure the early return of the internally displaced persons and their rehabilitation. The progress on development works initiated in the Fata was also reviewed.