17,000 posts approved for merged districts

PESHAWAR: The Apex Committee Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Wednesday reviewed the scenario in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision of striking down the interim arrangements for the seven merged districts of erstwhile Fata and made a number of decisions.

Governor Shah Farman and Chief Minister Mahmood Khan presided over the meeting, said a handout.

Corps Commander Shaheen Mazhar Mahmood, Provincial Ministers Muhammad Atif Khan, Shahram Khan Tarakai, Shaukat Yousafzai, Taimur Saleem Jhagra, Hasham Inamullah Advisor to CM on merged districts Ajmal Khan Wazir, Chief Secretary Naveed Kamran Baloch, Additional Chief Secretary Shehzad Bangash, IGP Salahuddin Mahsud, IG Frontier Corps Major General Rahat Naseem, Advocate General Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Latif Yousafzai and others government and military functionaries attended the meeting.

The committee approved the creation of 17,000 additional posts in different departments to be proportionally distributed amongst the seven tribal districts.

The meeting took for debate the overall merger plan for development integration of erstwhile Fata, the induction of Levies and Khassadar into the regular police, creation of posts in police, education, health and other sectors, the comprehensive developmental package for mainstreaming the people of these areas, the quick impact initiatives in health and education sectors, the repatriation and rehabilitation of people of these areas and the extension of judicial system.

The meeting agreed to facilitate the extension of the judicial system to the seven new districts as the merged areas have become part of the province and, therefore, the existing laws would be applicable to the new districts.

The infrastructure development would be carried out with accelerated pace and the federal government would be approached for the resources to put on ground a uniform development system and a system of dispensation of justice which would be notified.

The meeting was briefed about the possible issues and the remedial measures as a way forward to overcome the challenges. The chief minister advised focussing on the developmental integration of the people, the time-tagged implementation process on the decision of the Supreme Court, taking care of administrative matters without any waste of time so that the Supreme Court decision is implemented in letter and spirit.

The meeting discussed the possible irritants to be created by the forces of status quo and thoroughly debated step by step and the long-term approach so that no vacuum prevailed both legally and administratively. The meeting agreed to notify the extension of the judiciary. The meeting agreed to the induction of Levies and Khassadar into the regular police after the set criteria making legislation for the induction of federal force into provincial force. The additional posts to be created in different public sector institutions would also be offered to the locals. The chief minister advised the participants to look into the administrative and political challenges removing the uncertainty. The meeting agreed to the judicial complexes, the 12,000 Levies and 1,8000 Khassadar and approval to the 6000 additional force to be proportionally distributed among the new districts.

It also agreed to the sequential induction of police in the merged districts and approved the Skelton staff both for the judiciary and police for smooth facilitation.

The judicial courts and the police both investigative and operational would be set up within the adjoining districts which would be supported by the Levies and Khassadar.

The meeting also agreed to the announcement of a full package covering the developmental side of the merger and mainstreaming side for the rehabilitation and repatriation of affectees, the reconstruction of their houses, the provision of basic facilities including health and education.