PESHAWAR, Nov 16: The provincial government would soon introduce a legislation to make binding the right of inheritance to women and ban the tradition of giving out women in settlement for family feuds.
This was announced by chief minister Akram Khan Durrani while talking to students of Madaris, MPAs and elites of the provincial metropolis at the Frontier House on Sunday.
He said the government was contemplating to legislate on making binding the right of inheritance to women and banning the wrong tradition of giving out women to settle family feuds. Anyone who denied the due right to women would be punished according to the law, he added.
Outlining the MMA government’s priorities, the chief minister said providing education, health facilities, communications and social services to the public topped the list.
“We have established separate women university, medical college and introduced postgraduate classes in degree colleges to encourage female education,” he said.
Mr Durrani said the government had formed a separate sports directorate for women and created 10,000 new vacancies of teachers and set a target to extend education facilities to remote and backward areas under a three-year programme.
“We have plenty of potential in the fields of hydel power, tourism, agriculture, minerals, coal and natural gas,” he said, and added that the province would also avail of the vast opportunities of land route trade during the reconstruction process of Afghanistan.
The chief minister said because of the specific geographical conditions, the entire region would become a hub of world trade and commerce activity in the near future.
That was why the government concentrated on building new roads up to Afghan territory along with construction, expansion and repair of existing road networks in the province, he said.
“We are planning to develop scenic spots like Swat, Hazara and Galyat keeping in view their touristic importance,” he said, and added that emergency planning was under way to provide communications and other facilities to these areas so as to attract both domestic and foreign tourists.
Mr Durrani, however, said peace and order was imperative for the promotion of investment, commercial and economic activities.
The law and order situation in the province was far better and satisfactory and provided an investment-friendly climate, he concluded.
RAIN: The provincial metropolis and its suburbs received light rain on Sunday, adding chill to the cold and bringing a pleasant change in the dry weather.
The Met office recorded 0.3mm rain, the first of the winter season, and forecast more rains over upper parts of the province.
Heavy overcast conditions prevailed over the city throughout the day, forcing the people to wear woollies. The minimum temperature was recorded at 14 degrees Celsius.
Chitral and Parachinar received intermittent rains during the last three days. Koh-i-Sufaid in Kurram Agency and other high altitude areas in the province also received snowfall.