Uplift of tribal districts govt’s priority: PM

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Saturday that the government is attaching top priority to the development of merged areas of erstwhile Fata with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while at the same time is trying hard to observe austerity in the budget.

He said this while talking to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Shah Farman and Chief Minister Mehmood Khan, who called on him here. Minister for Communications Murad Saeed, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan, Special Assistant to PM on Political Affairs Naeemul Haque were also present on the occasion.

The prime minister acknowledged the fact that the people of the merged areas had rendered countless sacrifices for Pakistan and the government is making all possible efforts to provide job opportunities to the youth of these areas, enabling them to demonstrate their skills.

Provision of health, education, law and order and other facilities and social and economic uplift of the merged areas, the Prime Minister noted, is the government’s top priority so that the standard of living of people could be improved and then brought at par with the rest of Pakistan. The government, he empasised, is also paying attention to other backwards areas of Pakistan.

The meeting had a review of the ongoing developmental projects in the recently merged areas and also discussed the issues relating to less developed areas while the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister briefed the prime minister on these projects and other facilities, especially the provision of health cards to people there.