PESHAWAR, Nov 17: The Khushali Bank has included the Federally Administered Tribal Areas in its country-wide programme to develop non-bankable territories through micro-credit services.

This was stated by the bank’s president, Ghalib Nishtar, while giving a briefing to NWFP Governor Lt-Gen (retd) Ali Mohammed Jan Aurakzai at the Governor's House here on Friday.

Mr Nishtar informed the governor that in the first phase of the programme, to be implemented in next three years, two branches of the bank had been established in Jamrud (Khyber Agency) and Parachinar (Kurram Agency). The programmes would be gradually extended to other agencies next three years, he added.

The bank, he said, would offer loans of up to Rs50,000 to tribesmen. A total of Rs670 million would be disbursed in loans, he added.

Similarly, 30 higher education scholarships would be offered to tribal students associated with leading universities of the country.

The governor was informed that the bank would hire and train 127 local people, besides launching programmes for enhancing vocational skills.

The governor described the extension of Khushali Bank micro-credit scheme to Fata as another milestone in the overall socio-economic uplift of Fata. It would help tribesmen have an easy access to financial facilities, he said. He suggested the inclusion of Frontier Regions (FRs) in the programmes so that the people of Fata could avail the same opportunities.

He stressed a close coordination between the bank and the Fata secretariat during the planning and implementation stages of the programme.

Operational head of the bank Umer Farooq, governor’s secretary Azmat Hanif and Fata’s P&D secretary Zafar Hassan were also present on the occasion.