CHITRAL, May 10: The district government has constituted a coordination committee to monitor the development activities of the NGOs aimed at arresting the mounting sectarian tension in the area.

The committee, to be headed by the district Nazim, comprises the district heads of all the political parties. Also, two representatives of the Ismaili community have been included in the committee. Shuaib Sultan, chairman of the National Rural Support Programme (SRSP), and Walji, chairman of the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme, had come to Chitral to attend the meeting.

The first meeting of the committee held at the Governor’s Cottage on Thursday decided that the two NGOs would chalk out their development programmes in consultation with the committee aimed at ensuring even pace of development and progress.

All the components of the Aga Khan Development Network i.e. the health service, education service, housing board and water and sanitation, and education project will come under the purview of the committee, an insider told this correspondent.

Shahzada Mohyuddin, Maulana Sher Aziz, Haji Eidul Hussain, Maulana Abdul Shakoor and M.I. Khan Sarhadi represented the Pakistan Muslim League (QA), Jamaat-i-Islami, Pakistan People’s Party, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam, JUI (Q) and Awami National Party, respectively.

Mr Sultan told the meeting that the SRSP would get extension in June as its pilot phase is to be closed by the end of May. The committee members expressed satisfaction over the efficiency of the SRSP and hoped that it would help a great deal in the alleviation of poverty and rural development.