PESHAWAR, Aug 18: The NWFP government has ordered an inquiry into a shootout that took place on Thursday in Peshawar’s Hayatabad Township and resulted in the killing of a suspected Al Qaeda operative.
“Inquiry has been ordered and the home department has been asked to submit its report as soon as possible,” NWFP Minister for Information Asif Iqbal Daudzai told a press briefing after a cabinet meeting here on Monday.
NWFP Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Malik Zafar Azam, who is the official spokesman, had earlier said that the provincial government was not taken into confidence before the intelligence and law enforcement agencies carried out the operation.
The information minister facing a series of questions on the issue reiterated the MMA stand that Pakistani intelligence agencies were fully capable of carrying out any operation and there was no need for allowing foreign agencies to use Pakistani soil.
He, however, could not respond when told that no foreign agency was involved in the Thursday operation that left a Libyan national dead while another suspect described as a key Al Qaeda operative escaped.
The cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani, decided to increase the age limit of candidates seeking government employment by five years in view of the long ban on government employment.
The government had already lifted the ban on jobs in the NWFP, the minister said.
In another major decision, the cabinet approved in principle service structure for paramedics and directed the establishment and finance departments to present its views on the matter in the next cabinet meeting.
The cabinet directed the minister for health to present a comprehensive package in the next cabinet meeting to replace the Institution Based Practice (IBP) and provide relief to the common man.
This was one issue, a cabinet minister said, which was thoroughly discussed in the light of recommendations made by the standing committee of the NWFP assembly. The committee had recommended scrapping of the IBP and establishing a health regulatory authority to serve as a watchdog body over private medical practice, particularly by government doctors.
The meeting discussed the concept paper for a women’s university in Peshawar and decided in principle to establish it in the Frontier College for Women for the interim period. It would be relocated once a suitable place was found for the purpose, the cabinet was told.
Initially, the university would offer degrees in English Literature, Arabic, Computer Sciences, Statistics, Economics, Psychology, Sociology and Mass Communications.
The university would start functioning from October this year, the minister said.
The provincial minister for information said that the matter regarding a medical university for women also came up for discussion and it was agreed that it would be discussed in detail before a decision was made.
The cabinet decided to request the federal government to lift the ban on the registration of religious seminaries.
“There is no issue of madaris indulging in any sectarian activity; therefore, we feel that the ban on registration should be lifted. There are madaris whose certificates have expired and they need to be renewed,” he pointed out.
The chief minister approved Rs100 million in the endowment fund for fatally sick people, he said. The fund was being set up with a total of Rs500 million.
He said that the Federal Zakat Council had also been approached to provide Rs270 million that had lapsed due to non-utilization by the province last year. .
Mr Iqbal said that the chief minister had spoken to President Musharraf and Prime Minister Jamali about it and they had agreed to look into the matter.
He said that the federal government had also agreed to provide Rs100 million for treatment of hepatitis patients from the Zakat fund.
The cabinet decided to take legal opinion and seek views from other provinces on adopting federal rules for medical treatment, 1999 for provincial government employees. It also decided to reconstitute the committee for the revival of sick industries in Gadoon Amazai Industrial Estate.
The cabinet authorized cabinet ministers to make adjustments and fill posts lying vacant due to retirement or other reasons by way of transfer and postings. Routine transfer and postings in the health and education department would continue to be made in the months of March and July every year. The chief minister, however, could grant relaxation in certain cases.
The cabinet reversed a decision by the previous military regime on combining male and female regional institutes for teachers training and decided to segregate the institutes again on gender basis.
