National Finance Commission Award reconstitution stressed

PESHAWAR: Participants of the roundtable here on Wednesday stressed the need for reconstituting the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award and increasing the share of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to bring the merged districts on a par with the settled ones.

The event was organized by Forum for Inquiry, Knowledge and Review (FIKR) at Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University (SBBWU).

Chairman of the Council of Islamic Ideology, Prof Dr Qibla Ayaz, SBBWU Vice-Chancellor, Dr Safia Ahmed, FATA University Vice-Chancellor Dr Muhammad Jehanzeb, mental health expert and former principal of Khyber Medical College Dr Khalid Mufti, Edwardes College English Department Chairman Dr Gulzar Jalal, Dr Fatima Shaheen, Lt Gen (Retd) Shaheen Mazher Mehmood, Muhammad Aizaz Sethi, Pakistan Development Foundation Chairman Muhammad Bilal Sethi, Ahmad Kundi, Beenish Irfan Khan and Masoodur Rehman took part in the discussion.

Ahmed Kundi, a politician, said that KP was already not given its due share from the divisible pool despite its major contribution to the state’s energy.

He said the federation had utterly failed in providing the pledged Rs100 per year for uplift of the merged district. The speaker said the panacea for all the problems of merged districts was to revisit and reconstitute the NFC Award.

Retired Lt-Gen Shaheen Mazher called for involving all stakeholders in the process of development in the merged districts.

He said that people at the helm of affairs had to understand and accept that the center of gravity was population and within population, youth were the most important individuals as the future of the country was in their hands. The speaker said while lack of funds and inappropriate distribution was a matter of concern, corruption and lack of interest on the part of the representatives of people and other quarters concerned also needed attention.

The former corps commander stressed harmony among civil government, security organizations, spy agencies and the population to prosper.

Sharing his experience with the people of tribal areas, he applauded the abilities of the tribal people and said the myths associated with them had no truth.

Prof. Muhammad Jehanzeb was more concerned about lack of quality education to the people of former FATA. He said that he has seen talent in the area and all that needed to be done was to invest in the people of the merged districts.

Prof Dr Safia Ahmed said that the university was always available to FIKR and other such organizations for fruitful activities as this was the university’s job to organize such moots.

She suggested that student exchange programs may be initiated among the provinces, especially in merged areas of KP. Dr Gulzar Jalal urged the government to establish campuses of NUST, NUML, Air and Bahria universities in the merged districts so that the opportunities of quality education could be provided to the people of these areas. Bilal Sethi also spoke on the occasion.