Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has said that in according to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) manifesto, maximum emphasis made on police reforms, which according to him resulted in countering of violent acts and satisfactory law and order situation in the province.
In an interview with Pakistan Today, he said that his party has got mandate in according to its agenda of change and reforms and now his government successfully going ahead. He said that his government made an end to political interference in the police department and made the police force responsible. In according to the latest Police Act, he said that he as the chief executive of the province can make a special committee not only for investigation but also for action against the responsible policemen upon receiving complaint.
He said that the public safety commissions comprises public representatives have been established at each and every level. Answering a question, he said that maximum powers given to the police force to maintain law and order. Besides giving powers to the police force, the government also arranged special intelligence and elite force training to the uniform persons. He said that a system was evolved whereas the police force through the Counter-Terrorism Department, federal intelligence agencies were holding meetings for sharing information.
In response to a question, Khattak condemned the acts of honour killing in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and said that for discouraging such acts, disputes resolving commissions (DRCs) at the police stations were functioning. However, he said that almost the ‘honour’ killings were domestic matters. Therefore, it was hard for the government to interfere in ‘internal matters’ of the families, he said.
He termed passages of the Right to Information (RTI), Rights to Public Services and establishment of the Ehtesab Commission great achievements of the PTI government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Through such achievements, the chief minister said that on one hand masses were being made aware of their rights and on the other it lead to establishing a well organised system of check and balance against the institutions.
As compared to the past, now trends of corruption, corrupt practices, nepotism and inefficiencies in departments were declining, he said. Regarding health and education, he said that maximum emphasis was made on making these sectors regular, attentive and responsible. “First attention was focused on addressing missing facilities and filling of vacancies in both education and health sectors and later biometric system of attendance was established,” he remarked.
Now, there was 100 per cent attendance of teachers and doctors, he said. He also said that stern action was being taken against all those who were found absent from duty. He also shared his government’s decision of making compulsory teaching of Quran and Nazra in the government schools and making free but compulsory education for children from five to 16 years. In this connection, he said that a system was being evolved to make parents bound to allow children to attend schools.
In response to a question, Chief Minister Khattak said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was getting lion’s share on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). In this respect, he is expecting a huge investment from 20 to 30 billion dollars for the province by the next calendar year. In this connection, he said that a number of memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with Chinese and other international firms likely to be signed in June.
To a question, he supported merger of the Federally Administrative Tribal Areas (FATA) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as its people are already familiar with rules and regulations of this province. He said that FATA’s merger in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa could bring an end to trends of terrorism and extremism in the region. He said that the merger should be followed with extending of all rules and regulations of the province otherwise further experiments could plunge the whole region into irreversible crises.
In the light of achievements and wide range reforms, the chief minister said that they would not only retain but even determined to sweep 2018 general elections. He said that not only common men but even leaders and stalwarts of other political parties were happy with the performances of the PTI government.