HARIPUR, April 26: Provincial Minister for Schools and Literacy Sardar Hussain Babak has said that the provincial government would consider disarming the militants for lasting peace in the province at a later stage.

“We know that militants should be disarmed for sustainable peace but at this stage we can’t behave like a schoolteacher wielding stick in his hand,” he added.

Talking to journalists here on Saturday, Mr Babak said that ensuring peace and tranquillity in the troubled areas was of paramount importance.

Referring to the peace agreement with Mehsud tribes and release of TNSM chief Sufi Mohammad, the provincial minister said that the steps would serve as milestones for curbing militancy in the province.

He claimed that normalcy was fast returning to violence-hit areas and the situation would further improve with the passage of time.

To a question about growing Talibanisation in the tribal region, the minister accused media of exaggeration about the situation, saying that certain newspapers had been constantly playing up the issue of Talibanisation. He said that poor students of seminaries were being branded as Taliban. “There is no Taliban like outfit in the tribal areas,” Mr Babak claimed.

To another question he said that provincial government did not consider US as its enemy but made it clear that the government would not take any dictation from anyone and deal with the issues in accordance with local environment and circumstances.

He said that since the NWFP government was not getting the royalty of Tarbela Dam and income of local tobacco crop according to its share the province had always remained exposed to financial constraints. “It’s only because of lack of provincial autonomy for which we have been clamouring for decades,” he added.

To steer the province out of financial crisis, Mr Babak said, the provincial government had decided to slash the non-developmental expenditure. He said that despite all constraints the provincial government was committed to present a citizens-friendly budget.

He held former premier Shaukat Aziz and his aides responsible for flour crisis, saying that their flawed policies had created atta crisis in the country. But he believed that the situation would improve soon, saying the provincial government was making efforts to ensure the provision of the commodity to people without any hassle.

Mr Babak said that the issue of renaming NWFP would be addressed after taking all the stakeholders including people of Hazara into confidence and a consensus would be developed in this regard.

He said that the education system would be revamped in accordance with modern needs and the government would address the genuine problems of the teaching community.