June 15, 2003	Sunday	Rabi-us-Sani 14, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, June 14: Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs, Northern Areas and Water and Power Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao has held the MMA government in NWFP responsible for suspension of $90 million World Bank loan.

Talking to newsmen after an unusual meeting of MPAs of the NWFP belonging to his party and those from the ruling PML-Q in Islamabad on Friday, he said: “The parliamentary parties of both groups would decide whether they have to give a tough time to the MMA government in the coming budget or not”.

He said that besides inefficiency and incompetence the World Bank and other international monitory agencies were also skeptic about the provincial government’s actions vis-a-vis dismantling of billboards depicting images of women and banning trousers and shirts as uniform for schoolchildren.

In reply to a query about water and power, Mr Sherpao said right now there was no row over water distribution among provinces and Irsa was properly handling the matter.

He denied there was any raise in electricity tariff on the cards soon after the passage of the federal budget.

He denied reports that he was tasked with dislodging the MMA government in the province.

The MMA government, he said, was taking unnecessarily harsh steps which were against the interests of common man and doing no good to their immediate problems.

He said 23 members of the provincial assembly from both sides gathered here had complained of step-motherly treatment of provincial government in the development of their areas.

He said that after shifting the Fata Development Corporation to the provincial governor and the Frontier Constabulary to the interior ministry his ministries of KANA and SAFRON had been left with almost no role to play in the province.