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| February 12, 2003 | Wednesday | Zul Hijjah 10, 1423 |
Durrani moves ahead on renaming NWFP
PESHAWAR, Feb 11: The provincial government is considering setting up a committee to deliberate on a new name for the North West Frontier Province, said Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani on Monday.
Talking to various delegations at the Frontier House, he said it was important to give the province a proper identity, adding that all sections of society would be consulted in the choosing of a name.
Mr Durrani said it was sad to note that the NWFP had remained without a proper name since 1947. He regretted that political players in the past had made the issue controversial by treating it as an opportunity to score points.
He assured a delegation of parliamentarians that the work on a 70-room block at the MPA hostel was in progress and that the irrigation department had been told to shift their adjacent office to the main office at Warsak Road.
He said the MMA’s working was based on the concept of national unity and integrity. “Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan are equally dear to our heart, but that does not mean that we will compromise on the rights of the NWFP,” he pointed out.
The chief minister said he had spoken to President Musharraf and Prime Minister Jamali about the NWFP’s rights, adding that their response was positive.
He deplored the “non-serious” attitude of the NWFP’s past rulers towards provincial share in Wapda’s net profits from hydel power. Under the mechanism the NWFP should be getting close to Rs15 billion. Instead, he said, it increasingly became burdened with loans from various institutions.
Mr Durrani claimed his government had broken some ice on the issue as, according to him, the prime minister had agreed to increase the provincial share from the present Rs6 billion to Rs8 billion, with a 10 per cent increase every subsequent year.
Regarding the enforcement of Shariat, he said the MMA leadership would raise the issue at the national level and added that the NWFP government had already formed a Nifaz-i-Shariat Council which would soon submit its report to the provincial assembly.
The chief minister assured the opposition parties of cooperation, saying pushing the opposition against the wall was a practice of the past. “We don’t want people to be denied development funds just because they voted for an opposition candidate.”
He indicated some changes in the distribution of Zakat, and said the government was exploring different ways to deliver Zakat to the needy in hospitals and schools.
The government’s priority, he emphasized, would be to ensure Huqooqul Ibad, adding that the MMA’s stand on corruption and accountability would not change. He said maintenance of law and order was the priority of his government.
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