Centre to act against NWFP in 24 hours: Jamali to announce action
By Rafaqat Ali
ISLAMABAD, June 2: The federal government will take an “administrative action” to tackle situation in the NWFP, and an announcement in this regard will be made by Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali within the next 24 hours.
This was stated by Federal Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed while briefing newsmen after a high-level meeting presided over by President Pervez Musharraf here on Monday.
He said it had been decided that the situation in the NWFP demanded the federal government’s attention and an “administrative action” would be taken by the government.
The minister did not specify what he meant by the “administrative action,” but when asked if the provincial assembly would be dissolved, he said it would not be the case. He also said that emergency would not be imposed in the province.
The meeting was attended by the prime minister, four governors, three chief ministers and some federal ministers, including finance minister, interior minister and information minister.
The NWFP Chief Minister, Akram Khan Durrani, did not attend the meeting. When asked whether Mr Durrani was invited or he himself opted not to attend the meeting, the information minister said he was not aware if the chief minister was invited or not.
Sheikh Rashid said the NWFP governor was present in the meeting. The meeting also took notice of the resignations of the NWFP district Nazims, and decided that President Pervez Musharraf would meet them on June 10, during his visit to the NWFP to inaugurate the Kohat tunnel.
He said the government believed that all issues should be decided through dialogue, and it would not close its doors for the opposition. But there should be an end to demands. “When after negotiations, we narrow down differences on some disputed issues, another list of demands is placed which is obviously not a good thing,” he said.
The minister said the government wanted all the political forces in the country to work jointly for the strengthening of democracy after its revival.
In reply to a question, Sheikh Rashid said: “The president is in the uniform, and will remain in the uniform.”
The minister said the government would not allow the opposition to create a deadlock situation, and added that the democratic process would continue.
He said the government hoped that all the democratic forces would play their due role in strengthening democracy which was revived after three years of military rule.
Sheikh Rashid said if the opposition parties tried to hamper the democratic process, the government would tackle the situation.
The federal government, he said, was of the considered view that the district governments were a part of the democratic system as they were elected by the people. It was expected that all the federating units would cooperate in promoting and safeguarding the district government system, he added.
When asked about the possibility of any government-opposition showdown on the pattern of the Punjab Assembly, Sheikh Rashid said the police might have committed some excesses in Punjab but the attitude of the opposition should also be kept in mind.
ISLAMABAD, June 2: The federal government will take an “administrative action” to tackle situation in the NWFP, and an announcement in this regard will be made by Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali within the next 24 hours.
