PESHAWAR, June 8: NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani has said the provincial government will soon to table the Hasba bill in the provincial assembly that would guarantee the rights of women and ban handing over of women for settling family feuds. The chief minister said the government would ensure justice in the kidnapping of a girl of Dargai in Malakand agency.

He said the government would show zero-level tolerance for criminals, said a handout issued here on Wednesday.

Talking to a jirga of Dargai at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat here on Wednesday, Mr Durrani said the government would take measures to apprehend the culprits in the kidnapping case. It was the undeniable right of victims to take to the streets and raise voice against the injustice done to her. Such protest and agitation must be peaceful and it should bring no harm to innocent people, he added.

The chief minister said that nobody would be allowed to challenge the writ of the government. He said it was the government’s desire to get the jirga involved in the peace process, provide punishment to culprits and lend support to the voice of helpless people, and added that the jirga presented the best conflict-resolution mechanism.

He said that his government, with the backing of the people, would not allow crimes and would use persuasion as a tool for reformation.

He assured the delegation that his government would book all those involved in the kidnapping incident and said if law-enforcement agencies failed in discharging their responsibilities, action would be initiated against their personnel.

He warned that the government would take action against those involved in the maltreatment of an MNA from Balochistan. He said there were laws and norms of society that did not allow any maltreatment of the innocent.