LANDI KOTAL (Khyber Agency), Feb 24: NWFP Governor Ali Mohammad Jan Aurakzai on Saturday hinted at use of force for resolving the conflict going on between two warring factions in the remote valley of Tirah.

Addressing a jirga of Khyber Agency elders in Landi Kotal, the NWFP governor cautioned that the law and order situation in the agency, particularly in Tirah, had not been satisfactory for the last one and half years.

He said that the local administration with the help of elders had tried in vain to resolve the conflict. The governor said that it was time that the government took some punitive measures to restore peace in Tirah.

“We will not hesitate to use other options,” Mr Aurakzai said, adding that the government would not allow a handful of miscreants to take law into their hands.

Over 200 people have been killed in the conflict between Lashkar-i-Islam and Ansaar-ul-Islam.

The governor also took serious notice of a surge in kidnapping incidents in the Khyber Agency and asked the elders to clean their area of such anti-social elements. He said the increasing number of kidnappings for ransom had earned a bad name for the tribal areas, particularly Bara tehsil of the agency.

He informed the jirga that the annual budget for entire Fata in 2001 was only Rs900 million, but this year the government would spend Rs1.33 billion for the development of the Khyber Agency only.

The governor, however, said the allocation for development projects in the Tirah valley was attached to complete eradication of poppy cultivation from the area.

Mr Aurakzai maintained that poppy was mostly cultivated in the Khyber Agency and it was the responsibility of the local elders and religious leaders to come forward and help the government in its efforts to discourage poppy cultivation in tribal areas.

The governor said that an express highway from Jamrud to Torkhum would be built at a cost of Rs8.5 billion. He said the project would provide job opportunities to the locals. He appealed to the tribal people to take advantage of the new electricity billing system for Fata introduced by the Tribal Electric Supply Company.

Mr Aurakzai said that under the new billing system, tribal domestic consumers would be charged only Rs220 per month as a flat rate.

The governor announced that a separate grid station would be established in the Bazaar-Zakhakhel area, while a feasibility survey would be conducted for another grid station in Jamrud. At present the Bazaar-Zakhakhel area is without electricity.

Earlier, the Governor inaugurated the newly-built Landi Kotal helipad and a hostel for female teachers and girls students at the Government Higher Secondary School for Girls.

The governor announced the establishment of another girls’ college in Bara and a press club for local journalists in Landi Kotal.

He said that in order to ease administrative pressure on the local administration and expedite development schemes, Tirah would be made a separate sub-division.

He informed the jirga that out of 7,500 vacant posts in education in health departments in tribal areas, at least 2,600 posts would be filled this year.