Addressing the participants of a briefing on FATA development projects, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf on Tuesday said the eradication of polio in FATA was his government’s priority.
At least 11 cases of polio have been reported in FATA during the year of the total 22 reported from across the country. The prime minister said it was embarrassing to mention that Pakistan was among three countries of the world where polio still existed. He said the main cause of polio cases was the inaccessibility of the polio administering teams to the families in FATA, but necessary steps were being taken to reach out to these families so that polio teams could immunize the children during the campaign being launched this month.
He assured participants that his government would provide all kinds of support to the peace committees to enable them to augment their capacity to effectively combat the activities of terrorists and do not let them hold FATA hostage. Ashraf directed the Ministry of Information to project positively the development activities carried out in FATA. The prime minister said the PPP government had introduced landmark reforms in the FATA.
The present government introduced Political Parties Act with a view to mainstream them in the country’s policies and amended the FCR to entitle the people the right of appeal to a high court. He said holding local bodies elections in FATA would ensure the effective participation of the people in the decision-making process at the local level, which was important for the promotion of democratic culture. Ashraf said solar energy offered the best solution to the energy problem, especially in far flung areas like FATA and Balochistan, where it was difficult to lay transmission lines.
SAFRON Minister Engineer Shaukat Ullhah advocated the cause of equal treatment of IDPs of FATA as that of Swat and Malakand and added that there should be no discrimination in this regard. Wining the hearts and minds of the people was equally important for the complete rehabilitation of the war-affected people, the minister said. Haji Muneer Khan Orakzai, parliamentary leader of FATA MPs, said the people of FATA were patriotic Pakistanis and did not hesitate offering sacrifice for defending the country. He called upon the government to streamline the mechanism for release of development funds that had been hampering the pace of the execution of the development projects.
