May 18, 2007	Friday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 01, 1428

PESHAWAR, May 17: The NWFP government said on Thursday that neither the growing lawlessness nor the Talibanisation could be checked in the province unless the federal government extended its ‘full’ cooperation in efforts to curb the menace.

Briefing journalists at the media centre after a meeting of the provincial cabinet, NWFP Information Minister Asif Iqbal Daudzai regretted that the federal security agencies did not share sensitive and required information with the provincial government.

He urged the federal government to call back 175 Frontier Constabulary platoons from their deployment in different parts of the country and send them back to the NWFP.

NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani presided over the meeting.

The information minister said that the PPO had briefed the cabinet about the resource-starved police force.

He said that former prime minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali had sanctioned recruitment of 15,000 police personnel for the province, but Islamabad had yet to fulfil the promise.

He said that during the first four years of its term the federal government had lauded the exemplary law and order situation in the province and asked other provincial governments to learn from the NWFP government.

He said that sectarianism was being fanned in an organised way in Dera Ismail Khan to discredit the ruling coalition’s central leadership.

He said the so-called Talibanisation was being encouraged in and around D. I. Khan, Bannu and Tank districts.

He said it was a `great conspiracy’ aimed at maligning the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, which had caused a dent in the old authoritarian system of government and given a new turn to the art of governance.

He said that in Peshawar, Charsadda and Mardan CD shops, salons and girl schools managements were being harassed through anonymous letters.

He said the defunct Tehrik-i-Nifaz-i-Shariat Muhammadi was being reorganised in the Malakand division.

He said the FC, which had been established in 1912 to man the tribal belt, was enough to cater to the province’s security needs.

He said the cabinet had decided to strengthen the police force and equip the special branch with the surveillance apparatus.

The cabinet had also decided to impart training to 2,000 policemen, who had been selected, at Kabal in Swat at a temporary centre.

The capacity of police training centres in Hangu and Kohat would also be enhanced and improved, he said.

The minister said the cabinet had waived Abiyana for another three years and asked the irrigation department to present a report in the next cabinet meeting.

He said the cabinet had directed to law-enforcement agencies to expedite its efforts against obscenity and vulgarity across the province.

The cabinet also amended the Misuse of Loudspeaker Act and enhanced the imprisonment term from one month to three months and doubled the fine amount.