President Zardari approves local government for PATA

President Asif Ali Zardari, on the advice of the prime minister, on Monday accorded his assent to the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2012 and extension of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Act, 2012 to the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA) under Article 247(3) of the Constitution, enabling the establishment of local government institutions in PATA. The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2012 was first passed by the National Assembly (NA) on November 11, 2010. The Senate passed the said bill on May 3, 2011 with amendment and returned the same to the NA, which again adopted it, as amended by the Senate, on November 14 this year. The Bill seeks to criminalise illegal business of dealing in fake prize bonds. Spokesperson to the President Senator Farhatullah Babar said the summary initiated by the Ministry of States & Frontier Regions stated that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Home & Tribal Affairs Department with the approval of the governor had forwarded the proposal for extension of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Act 2012 to the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas. It said the extension of the Local Government Act to the PATA would help establish local government institutions there.