PESHAWAR, Jan 18: NWFP Governor Owais Ahmad Ghani has ordered the establishment of three Regional Coordination Offices to improve coordination and liaison between the settled districts and adjoining tribal areas.
“It’s a very important and significant step and should have come much earlier,” a senior government official told Dawn.
“This will create the necessary link and coordination between the districts and adjoining tribal areas to share information and take joint steps to overcome security-related issues,” the official said, requesting he not be named.
“I think the realisation is finally dawning on the powers that be that undoing the past institutions of commissioners who used to serve as a link between the districts and the tribal areas was unwise.
“The absence of leadership at the district level has caused serious implications from law and order perspective and also from the governance point of view,” he added.
He said that the government was considering to post senior officers as Regional Coordinating Officers (RCOs) known for integrity, fairness and efficiency in the next few days.
The RCO, broadly speaking, is a resurrection of the old commissioners, but the nomenclature has been changed due to reservations at the top against the revival of an office that was done away with under the so-called devolution plan.
Officials familiar with the development said that it had taken a lot of time convincing President Musharraf of the utility of having the RCOs and it was with some trepidation that the proposal was accepted.
According to an official statement, the three Regional Coordination Offices would be called the Northern Region, Central Region and Southern Region.
Peshawar, Charsadda, Mardan, Nowshera, Swabi, all districts of PATA and the defunct Hazara Division, Khyber, Mohmand and Bajour agencies and FR Peshawar have been included in the Northern Region with Peshawar as headquarters. Kohat, Hangu and Karak, Kurram and Orakzai agencies and FR Kohat have been included in Central Region with Kohat as headquarters.
Likewise, D.I.Khan, Bannu, Tank and Lakki Marwat, North and South Waziristan agencies, FR Bannu, FR D.I.Khan, FR Tank and FR Lakki Marwat have been included in the Southern Region with Bannu as headquarters.
The Regional Coordination Officers would be required to ensure maintenance of law and order in terms of relations between Fata and adjoining settled districts, the statement said.
In the discharge of duties and functions, the Regional Coordination Officers would be responsible to the NWFP government and the Governor (as agent to the President for Tribal Areas) through the Home Secretary and Chief Secretary, Government of NWFP.
The RCOs would also be required to establish institutional linkages between the provincial government: district governments, tribal areas as well as civil secretariat Fata; to dispose of revenue, FCR and administrative/service appeals; to facilitate and strengthen district governments in implementation of government policies; and to act as representative of the government at the regional level.
A notification to this effect was issued here on Friday by the NWFP Establishment and Administration Department (Regulation Wing).