17 October 2004	Sunday	02 Ramazan 1425

PESHAWAR, Oct 16: The literacy rate among women in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas is 0.15 per cent and among men three per cent.

This was revealed during a meeting of NWFP Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah with a 22-member group of trainee officials and faculty members of the Command and Staff College, Quetta, at Governor's House on Tuesday.

It was stated that 60 per cent of the people in the region lived below the poverty line and job opportunities and other economic benefits there were negligible.

The governor said the government had replaced the colonial system of governance at the district level with a democratic system, which was working smoothly and enjoyed the confidence of the masses.

He said that until the recent past the government machinery enjoyed a lot of powers.

He said that after the devolution of powers the elected representatives had been empowered to take decisions according to the needs and requirements of the people.

He said the prevailing system of governance in Fata was another legacy of the colonial period, which provided extra powers to the government machinery.

He remarked that under the system an individual at the helm of affairs at the agency level enjoyed un-imaginable powers.

He said the government was trying to bring reforms through an evolutionary process and as the first step in the direction agency councils were being constituted.

He said the councils would be entrusted with the responsibility of monitoring and formulating development schemes.

He said such councils had existed in the past but those did not enjoy any importance in the eyes of the people or the government because their members were nominated by a person.