PESHAWAR, July 21: While constituting two other committees for preparing recommendations on the federal government’s draft provincial autonomy package, the NWFP cabinet’s committee on provincial autonomy on Saturday requested the centre to extend the deadline for the submission of recommendations.

The committee stated that the issue was very important and the deadline of July 30 was too short for preparing solid recommendations.

The two committees, the legal and constitutional committee and financial committee, will be headed by the secretary law and the secretary finance, respectively.

According to an official handout, the cabinet’s high-powered committee met here with its chairman provincial education minister Maulana Fazle Ali Haqqani in the chair. The meeting thoroughly reviewed the draft provincial autonomy package.

The two committees would prepare solid recommendations and submit its report to the main committee in the next meeting to be held on July 27 enabling the main committee to prepare recommendations for provincial cabinet’s approval.

The meeting beside other members of the committee, provincial ministers Asif Iqbal Daudzai, Hussain Ahmad Kanju, Shah Raz Khan and Sardar Idrees Khan, was also attended by provincial secretaries of finance, establishment, law, home and tribal affairs and the NWFP Advocate- General.

The meeting was of the view that the strong federating units were must for the strong federation and demanded of the federal government to give complete autonomy by handing over administrative and financial control of all departments to the provinces except defence, foreign affairs, currency and communication.

Provincial autonomy was an important and sensitive issue and it would be unwise to prepare recommendations in a hurry, the meeting stated.

It was added that keeping in view this fact in mind, the committee demanded of the federal government to extend the deadline so that provinces had enough time to prepare solid recommendations on provincial autonomy as well as thoroughly review the draft package to see whether the basic issues regarding provincial autonomy were incorporated in the package or not.

The meeting also discussed in detail issues of NFC award, electricity net profit, provinces quota in federal government jobs/appointments and tobacco cess etc.