300 vacancies in Police Deptt to be created for martyred cops’ children, KP Assembly told

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly was told on Thursday that about 300 new posts would be created in the Police Department exclusively for the families of the cops who had embraced martyrdom in the war against terrorism in the province.

In response to a call attention notice, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Sultan Mohammad Khan lauded the provincial police force for their fight against terrorists at a time when militancy was at its peak in the province.

He said the sacrifices and martyrdom of the police force could not be measured in the rewards and special packages, but still the government had announced special incentives for the force. He said the close relatives, especially scions of the martyred cops, had been given priority in the recruitment in the past but now the government had planned to create about 300 more posts in the police department to adjust the unemployed children of the police ‘Shuhada’ (martyrs).

Awami National Party (ANP) MPA Shagufta Malik moved the call attention notice, reminding the government that at least 200 unemployed children of the martyred police officials were deprived of recruitment in the police force.

Law Minister Sultan Mohammad Khan also directed the police high-ups to provide warm uniform and other items to the police cops during the winter season on emergency basis.

He also informed the House that creation of a separate division comprising Upper Dir, Lower Dir, Upper Chitral, Lower Chitral and Bajaur districts was necessary for administrative purposes. He gave the assurance that it would be discussed in the upcoming provincial cabinet meeting. He said that Malakand division was the largest division of the province spread over 32,007 square kilometres with Swat as its headquarters. He admitted that Upper Dir, Lower Dir, Chitral and now Bajaur district are located at a long distance from the present divisional headquarters, Swat, and people of these districts were facing problems going there.

Jamaat-e-Islami parliamentary party leader and former provincial minister Inayatullah raised the issue of the need for a separate division during the Question Hour and asked the PTI government to declare Timergara as headquarters of the new division.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly also admitted an adjournment motion for general debate regarding the National Finance Commission (NFC) award and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s share in the national resources.

The adjournment motion was jointly moved by opposition parliamentary leader Akram Khan Durrani, ANP’s Sardar Hussain Babak, Inayatullah of Jamaat-e-Islami, Sardar Aurangzeb Nalotha of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Nighat Yasmin Orakzai of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).

Responding to the adjournment motion, the provincial Law Minister said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government would not compromise on its share in the national resources. He added that the federal government has been asked to announce the new NFC Award keeping in view the due share of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after the merger of tribal areas with the province.