KHAR: The Fata Secretariat has suspended federal government-sponsored annual scholarship scheme for students of Bajaur tribal district studying in public sector universities and colleges across the country.

Student leaders and sources in the local administration told Dawn on Thursday that they did not know about the real cause of the suspension of scholarship scheme, however, they said shortage of funds could be the reason behind stopping of the programme.

The sources, however, claimed that the scheme was suspended at least a year ago for the students of all the tribal districts.

An official of the local administration in Khar dealing with the students affairs said the scheme was stopped on the directives of Fata Secretariat.

According to the official, the programme has been stopped due to the lack of funds as the federal government did not allocate any funds for the scheme for last two years.

The official said that it was not the first time the scholarship programme was stopped, saying the scheme was also suspended in 2016, which was later restored. He rejected the notion that the annual scholarship programme was stopped following merger of Fata with KP.

To a question, the official said that the scheme was likely to be restored by next month as the relevant officials were making efforts to get funds for the programme as soon as possible.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2018