PESHAWAR, Oct 5: NWFP Governor Khalilur Rehman has said Fata political administrations must be proactive with regard to the maintenance of peace in their areas, and urged officers to use efficient information gathering and sharing mechanism so that any unlawful and suspicious activity could be detected well in time.

The approach should be rather tough because you have to do something tangible, he remarked while presiding over a meeting on Wednesday to review law and order situation in Fata and other issues.

He stressed the need for taking prompt action in cases of kidnapping as well as post-recovery action “so that issues are taken to the logical end”.

Chief Secretary Ejaz Ahmad Qureshi, Secretary to Governor Arbab Mohammad Arif and Inspector General Police Rifat Pasha, political agents of all tribal agencies and DCOs of frontier regions attended the meeting.

The meeting took stock of the overall law and order situation in Fata with particular focus on other related issues including intra-tribe and inter-tribe disputes, the incidence of kidnapping and action against kidnappers, repatriation of Afghan refugees from Fata and drive against poppy cultivation.

The governor emphasized the need of resolving tribal disputes, particularly those relating to development projects and minerals, saying that the old revenue record could be treated as a sound base for resolving such disputes.

Reviewing the cases of kidnapping the governor said that writ of the government must be established by not only controlling the crime before occurrence but also ensuring that the culprits were brought to book and punished.

He also underlined the need of complete coordination among the law enforcement agencies, political administrations of tribal areas as well those of adjoining districts and said that the anti-kidnapping force should be more active and responsive.

Regarding enforcement of ban on poppy cultivation, he said that the government desired to see the tribal area completely poppy-free. No lethargy or negligence in this regard would be tolerated, he warned.

He added that the performance of officials would be evaluated on the basis of ground realities in this regard. He said that actions should be initiated against erring growers, including their arrests.

The political agents and DCOs presented an overview of the law and order situation in their jurisdictions and response of the administration towards certain significant issues.