29 October 2004	Friday	14 Ramazan 1425

ISLAMABAD, Oct 28: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) conveyed its concern to the government on Thursday over under-utilization of a $350 million aid given for judicial reforms in Pakistan.

The bank's concern was conveyed by a Senior Governance Specialist from Resident Mission of the ADB in Pakistan, Duglus Porter, when he called on Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao here, a government statement said.

It quoted the ADB official as saying that the bank had decided that 40 per cent of the total aid would go to federal agencies and the remaining 60 per cent to provinces.

According to the government statement, under the government's "Access to Justice Programme", eight federal agencies would get their shares from the 40 per cent of the money allocated for the federal departments.

The ADB has provided $350 million to the government for judicial reforms under "Access to Justice Programme" in Pakistan.

"It is the first ever programme of its kind across the world which is being financed by the bank," the ADB representative said.

He said the bank supported President General Pervez Musharraf's idea of de-politicization of police department and reforms in the judicial system.

Speaking on this occasion, the interior minister said impediments in utilization of budget would be removed soon. "We are working closely with the Ministry of Law, Justice and Human Rights in this regard," he said.

Mr Sherpao said the government was committed to overhaul police structure and a lot needed to be done in areas of capacity building and technical and surveillance structure of police.

He thanked the visiting representative for financing the programme and showing concern for better utilization of funds.

Secretary of Interior Tariq Mehmood and Director-General of National Police Bureau (NPB) Dr Shoaib Suddle were also present on this occasion.

Meanwhile, the interior minister visited the National Police Foundation (NPF) headquarters where he was briefed about the functioning of the foundation.

During the visit, the minister was informed about the objectives, organizational structure and operative areas of the foundation.

The interior minister was told that the NPF was not getting any financial aid from the government and had no financial liabilities.

He was informed that the NPF was totally committed to serving the police officials through different programmes.