PESHAWAR: Sardar Mehtab Khan Abbasi, who took oath as the Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Tuesday, has said there is no harm in granting amnesty to militants if they submit to the Constitution.

Talking to journalists at the Governor’s House, Sardar Mehtab said people involved in militancy had become hostage to the situation and their families were facing severe hardship. Many of them might be fed up with the situations, but were not able to find a way out, he added.

“I think the government should grant a general pardon,” the governor said.

Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel administered the oath to Sardar Mehtab who is politically affiliated with the PML-N.

The oath-taking ceremony was attended by Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, judges of the high court, federal and provincial ministers, parliamentarians, diplomats and civil and military officers.

A large number of PML-N workers converged at the Governor’s House for the occasion.

Answering a question, Sardar Mehtab said the ongoing peace process between the government and the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan was complicated. The process of such dialogues has its own dynamics and issues related to militancy cannot be resolved by TV talk shows.

He said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was supervising the talks and the people of Fata should trust him.

When asked about the issue of missing persons who were allegedly in the custody of security forces, Sardar Mehtab said all innocent people would be released soon. But, he added, people involved in criminal activities would not be set free.

The new governor said that restoration of peace, good governance, reconstruction and rehabilitation of people of tribal areas affected by militancy were his priorities. “The return of internally displaced persons to their areas and their rehabilitation is a big task and this is my priority,” he said when asked about the main points on his list of work to be done in tribal areas.

He said a large number of people had suffered because of militancy in Fata and they needed immediate rehabilitation. The government should ensure its presence and restore the confidence of people in those areas of Fata where peace had been restored. He said he would review administration in the Civil Secretariat Fata.

“Tribal areas need very pro-active administration and people there should trust the government,” he said, regretting that successive governments over the past 65 years had ignored Fata.

He said Fata was a gateway to Central Asia and rich in mineral deposits and that there was a need to explore its potential. He said Fata would be brought to the mainstream and lasting peace would be established there.

“Violence and bloodshed are not our destiny. Time has come for us to resolve our issues,” he said, pledging that lawlessness would be eradicated from tribal areas at all cost.

Sardar Mehtab said over three decades of wars and conflicts in Afghanistan had badly damaged the social fabric of the society. He said a peaceful Fata was prerequisite for a prosperous Pakistan.