MINGORA, Oct 12: Provincial Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Qari Mehmood has said the MMA government has adopted policies purely on merit and is trying to serve the people without any discrimination.

He said the credit went to the MMA government for introducing an interest-free banking system, establishing a women's university, medical college, initiating work on the construction of roads and for providing free school education in the province.

Speaking as chief guest at the oath-taking ceremony of the Malakand Division Journalists Union (MDJU) here on Monday, the minister appreciated the role of journalists in highlighting the problems faced by the masses.

He said the government held journalists in high esteem and asked them to pinpoint the government's weaknesses in the interest of the country. The minister defended the MMA government policies, saying that the VIP culture had been abolished and everybody could meet the ministers without any prior appointment.

Speaking about the performance of agriculture ministry, he claimed that it had never achieved such targets in the past, adding that for the first time a service structure had been made for the government employees.

About the price of daily-use items, the minister said like previous years people would be provided 4,000 bags of atta (flour) on subsidized rates during Ramazan. He said that work on the construction of roads had begun under the Malakand Rural Development Project (MRDP), which could not be taken up by any government in the past.

Referring to the Hasba act, the minister rejected the opposition's allegation that it was the maulvis' martial law. He said this act would lead to prosperity and creation of a corruption-free society, which was a long-standing demand of the people.

Commending on the performance of the journalists' union, the minister announced a donation of Rs100,000 for the MDJU on behalf of the provincial government and assured it of full cooperation on part of the government.

Rahim Haqqani, adviser to the NWFP chief minister, said journalists were a respected community and journalism was a sacred profession. He stated that newsmen had to perform many responsibilities for the uplift of the nation and the country.

He said the law and order situation in the province was far better than other three provinces and the prime minister had also admitted the fact. Mr Haqqani said the government had achieved most of its targets in a short period which could not be achieved by others in decades.

Referring to the demands of the union, Mr Haqqani said these were reasonable and assured the MDJU of his help in this regard. The patron-in-chief of MDJU, Ali Hazrat Bacha, in his speech said the union had been functioning since 1995 and serving the journalist community, but it had been facing financial constraints.

He said journalists of the Malakand division had always been neglected by the government. He demanded that the government should give proper attention to the solution of their problems. MDJU Chairman Zahir Shah said the union was determined to fight against corruption and yellow journalism.