PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Mahmood Khan said on Thursday that government was considering bifurcation of Malakand division.

A statement issued here said that he was talking to a jirga of Paindakhel and Sultankhel tribes of Upper Dir. He said that bifurcation of Malakand was a longstanding demand of the people of Dir and Chitral.

He said that his predecessors in the past only focused on their own constituencies and neglected the rest of the province, however, his government was striving to develop the entire province.

The jirga informed the chief minister about the public issues and discussed with him various matters related to the overall development of Upper Dir district.

Mr Khan said that schedule for the second phase of local government elections in the district was issued, therefore, he could not announce any new development scheme for the district.

He said that once the elections were over, he along with prime minister would visit the district to address a public gathering there. He said that government was spending huge resources on education, health, communications, tourism and other sectors in the district.

Mr Khan said that in the coming days more projects would also be initiated in the district. He said that government was fully aware of the issues faced by the people of Dir and going all out to resolve those problems one by one.

He also informed the jirga about expression of interest for construction of the first phase of Dir Motorway project that had been floated. He said that work on the same would be started soon and the project would be extended to Dir Upper and Chitral in the next phases.

The chief minister said that government chalked out developmental plans for all the regions of the province as per their potentials and those plans were being implemented swiftly.

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2022