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PESHAWAR, Aug 12: NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani has said his government will bring the Hisba Bill into the provincial assembly after it has been cleared by Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah.
The chief minister, during an informal meeting with newsmen, brushed aside apprehensions about the bill that had generated controversy ahead of its legislation.
The chief minister said the Hisba force would be drawn from the existing police cadre, dispelling the impression of a vigilante team for enforcing strict Islamic values.
He denied that Mohtasib’s office would amount to running a parallel judiciary.
Journalists and prominent elders with clean background would also be incorporated into Mohtasib’s office as members to ensure transparency, he added.
A Mohtasib, he said, would be somebody with a higher secondary school qualification in addition to obtaining a sanad from a religious seminary.
KALABAGH DAM: The chief minister reiterated the government’s stand on construction of the controversial Kalabagh dam and denied reports that a member of the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) from the NWFP had given tacit support to the project.
He said that prior to taking any decision on the issue, he would take his cabinet, the assembly and all political parties in the NWFP into confidence.
In this context, Mr Durrani emphasized the need for evolving a national consensus on the issue. He said the federal government should take all four provinces into confidence before taking any decision.
CENTRE-PROVINCE RELATIONS: The chief minister said his government was striving for better relations with the federal government. He said that his government believed in sorting out issues through consultation and dialogue.
He was confident that relations between the province and the federal government would remain cordial irrespective of the outcome of talks between the Centre and the MMA.
He said he was optimistic that the steps taken by Prime Minister Jamali towards resolving matters with the opposition would yield positive results.
He said Mr Jamali had visited Peshawar twice before, adding that he would invite the prime minister again to undertake a detailed visit and apprise him of the problems faced by the province.
UNCAPPING OF NET PROFITS: Mr Durrani said his government had urged the federal government to uncap net profits from the hydel generation plant presently fixed at Rs6 billion.
He said the provincial government had already forwarded the names of its representatives to the federal government for inclusion in the National Finance Commission.
CABINET EXPANSION: The chief minister said the provincial cabinet would be expanded at an appropriate time. He did not rule out the inclusion of a woman representative in the cabinet.
In reply to a question, he said, “If women can become parliamentarians, why can’t they become ministers.”
KHYBER UNION OF JOURNALISTS: Mr Durrani met with a delegation of the Khyber Union of Journalists led by its president, Sajjad Haider. The delegation apprised him of the problems faced by the journalist community.
He directed the information department to convene a high-level meeting to look into the possibility of linking wage board award to distribution of the provincial government advertisements.
He also directed the city municipal and development department to look into the possibility of revising its quota of residential plots for journalists in Regi Model Town, Peshawar to accommodate the remaining few.
