PESHAWAR, Oct 4: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has not accorded status of militancy-hit region to Hangu district, which is surrounded by three volatile tribal agencies and has been bearing the brunt of sectarian unrest and subversive activities.MPA Mufti Syed Janan during question-answer session in the assembly on Monday said that provincial planning and development department did not give status of militancy-affected area to the Hangu district. The department in its written reply admitted that notification had not been issued in this regard. The government, according to the reply released funds to the militancy stricken areas for rehabilitation and reconstruction. The IDPs hosting districts were also provided funds for the rehabilitation and maintenance of infrastructure. The lawmaker said that Hangu, which shares borders with Kurram, Orakzai and North Waziristan agencies, had badly been affected by militancy. He said that security forces had conducted operations in the area while more than 150,000 IDPs from Kurram and Orakzai had been residing in the district. Speaker Karamatullah Khan Chaghermati, who was presiding over the proceedings, kept several questions pending due to lack of preparedness and absence of the ministers. Javid Abbasi of PML-N and Abdul Akbar Khan of PPP questioned criteria for the appointment of director general of the Provincial Disaster Management Authority. Through identical supplementary questions both the members pointed out that a junior officer had been appointed as DG while senior officers had become its members. They said that most senior officers from the existing lot should be appointed head of the authority. Opposition leader Akram Khan Durrani levelled allegations of misappropriation and mismanagement in distribution of relief goods in the flood-affected areas. He said that according to the information given on the PDMA website 4,000 blankets and 800 plastic sheets had been handed over to Bannu district coordination officer for distribution among the affected people.

The officer concerned, he said, had denied receiving relief goods from the authority. He demanded inquiry into the distribution of relief items. Other members also complained about mismanagement in relief items and inefficiency on the part of PDMA.

Minister for Information Main Iftikhar Hussain assured the house that inquiry would be conducted in relief goods distribution.Senior Minister Bashir Ahmad Bilour informed the house that distribution of Watan cards would be started soon and each flood-affected persons would get Rs20,000. He said that distribution process of the cards would be completed in three months.

The PML-N and treasury benches criticised former president Pervez Musharraf for his remarks against former prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharif. Javed Abbasi through an adjournment motion demanded that the former military dictator should be brought back to the country through Interpol and tried under Article 6 of the Constitution.The mover said that the former dictator had not only abrogated the constitution twice but also killed Nawab Akbar Bugti, hundreds of innocent people for receiving funds from western countries and handed over Aafia Siddiqui and others to America. Senior Minister Bashir Bilour supported the mover.

The treasury benched defeated an adjournment motion moved by opposition members against increase in power tariff. The MMA lawmakers staged walkout from the house.

Malik Qasim Khattak of MMA tabled motion against government for withdrawing its writ petition from Peshawar High Court which was earlier filed against raise in power tariffs. The opposition benches wanted detailed discussion on the issue.