'GILGIT, Oct 11: President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Monday announced what has been described as a "comprehensive package" for the empowerment of people and development of the Northern Areas in order to bring the region at par with the rest of the country.

Speaking on behalf of the president, who cancelled his tour of the region due to bad weather, Senator Nisar A Memon announced the package at a press conference here. Under the package, the strength of the Northern Areas Legislative Council (NALC) has been increased from 29 to 32 members.

The additional three members would be technocrats elected by 24 NALC members on the pattern of election of five women on reserved seats. For the empowerment of women, the Local Government Ordinance will be amended to increase their seats by 33 per cent at the district, tehsil, and union council levels.

Another part of the package is delegation of administrative and financial powers from the federal capital, Islamabad, to the Northern Areas administration. The president also announced the creation of an additional district of Astore.

An appellate court for the Northern Areas is also being established, implementing the decision of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. These measures would meet the longstanding demands of the people of the area.

Mr Memon, who is also the chief organizer of PML for NALC elections, said that in order to facilitate and improve air links to the Northern Areas, PIA will start operating a new all-weather aircraft service, replacing the ageing Fokker fleet. He said the short-listing of aircraft had been done and a contract will be signed soon.