ISLAMABAD, Nov 15: The NWFP government has urged the federal government to ensure equal distribution of funds to the Frontier province and AJK. This was demanded by a provincial ‘jirga’ held here on Tuesday to assess the damage caused by the Oct 8 earthquake and the immediate needs of the affected people.

The jirga was attended by Iftikhar Hussain of ANP, Syed Murid Kazim of PPP (Sherpao), Dr Attaur Rahman and Sirajul Haq of MMA and Senator Khurshid Ahmed of JI.

Later, speaking at a news conference Senior Minister Sirajul Haq said 16,000 square-mile area of the NWFP and 44 per cent of the people were affected by the earthquake and three out of five houses were damaged or destroyed.

He said Rs17 billion was required for reconstructing government buildings and Rs43 billion for the civilian population. He urged people not to let the spirit of sacrifice which they had demonstrated in the aftermath of the quake die out and continue to send relief goods for the affected people.

He said that there was extreme shortage of tents as the commodity was not available in the country and UN secretary general’s statement that no more than 25 per cent affected people had not received anything for shelter was correct.

He said the jirga demanded that the federal government should launch rigorous efforts for seeking maximum aid from donor agencies for the next three years.

The jirga, he said, had also demanded that the federal government put a year-long freeze on purchase of new weaponry to divert maximum funds towards relief and rehabilitation operations.

The minister said that the jirga had also demanded that local government representatives and parliamentarians should be associated with the relief and rehabilitation work.

The paltry Rs25,000 being given for reconstruction of every house, the jirga said, was meagre an amount and demanded its raising up to Rs200,000 per house.