K-P cabinet approves stipend for prayer leaders

Okays move to recognise Kulachi, Upper Chitral as districts; policy on gun licences approved

PESHAWAR: Despite concerns from some prayer leaders, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa cabinet on Monday approved a plan to pay Rs10,000 per month as an honorarium to pesh imams of all Jamia mosques of the province.

Chaired by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister Pervez Khattak at the Civil Secretariat in Peshawar, Monday’s cabinet meeting deliberated the stipend provision for prayer leaders along with regularisation of thousands of government employees currently working on various projects in the province on contract.

The plan to provide the stipend would set the province back Rs3.25 billion every year.



According to a handout issued by the information department, the stipend will be given to those prayer leaders who hold a proper degree from any of the five recognised boards of Deeni Madaris.

Moreover, the criteria stipulates that the recipients must be permanent residents of K-P.

The government further stated that the stipend will be directly transferred to the accounts of eligible prayer leaders, rather than handing out cash. The modalities for this, the statement said, are still being worked out.



To determine which mosques — and by association prayer leaders — qualify for the programme, an official, seven-member committee will be formed at the district level. Moreover, committees of the respective mosques will have also a role in the process of checking the eligibility of mosques.

In the event that the prayer leader of a mosque is changed, the mosque committee will be responsible for sending nominations to the district-level committees for appointing a replacement.

Regularising employees

The cabinet also approved a draft bill which will regularise 4,835 government employees who are currently working on 57 different projects.

The draft bill will now be tabled in the provincial assembly.

Gun licences

A policy for issuing licences for prohibited-bore guns was also approved.

Moreover, to make the process of issuing arms licences transparent, an arms committee will be constituted at the district level —headed by the deputy commissioners — which will issue a set number of licences every month after seeking approval from the competent authority.

New districts

The cabinet also granted its conditional approval to upgrade the Kulachi area in the Dera Ismail Khan Division and Upper Chitral in the Malakand Divison to the status of a district.



However, the decision would only take effect once the Election Commission of Pakistan lifts a ban on new delimitations.

The provincial cabinet also approved a new comprehensive culture policy to promote regional languages, literature, culture, sports, set up a Lok Virsa, exchange cultural delegates at the national and international level, and promoting regional art.

Moreover, the cabinet also approved certain amendments in partnership rules 1932 whereby necessary changes have been proposed in fees of regular firms.

It approved a move to restructure the K-P Board of Investment and Trade and directed all the concerned administrative secretaries to present detail performance reports of all the boards in their respective jurisdictions.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 9^th, 2018.