Worsening law & order situation echoes in K-P PA

House approves opposition’s motion for detailed debate

PESHAWAR:

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly has approved an adjournment motion for a detailed discussion after some opposition lawmakers expressed grave concern over the “deteriorating law and order situation” in Malakand Division and Waziristan. The house witnessed a rare consensus as treasury lawmakers supported the opposition’s call for discussion on the “precarious situation” following social media reports of reemergence of the Taliban in some parts of the province.

The opposition MPAs pointed out that terrorists have regrouped and reemerged in Malakand Division, where they have started attacking security forces and killing people in targeted attacks. The government must assuage the growing concerns and fears among the local residents by revealing the facts, they demanded. The provincial government, however, assured that nobody would be displaced from Swat or any other area of the province. The adjournment motion was tabled by Jamaate-Islami parliamentary leader Inayatullah Khan and Humaira Khatoon in the house on Monday.

“A wave of unrest is sweeping across K-P, especially Malakand Division and the merged districts, amid back-to-back incidents of target killing,” reads the motion. Senior security and law enforcement officials, including a DSP, were taken hostage by armed men in Swat. The vehicle of Malik Liaquat Ali, a ruling party MPA from Maidan, Lower Dir district, was attacked, killing four innocent people, it added. People are deeply concerned at the situation; therefore, the house should approve the adjournment motion and hold the much-needed debate on this pressing issue of public interest.

They said that the real facts regarding the deteriorating law and order situation in Swat and Malakand Division should be brought before the nation. Provincial Minister Shaukat Yousafzai endorsed the demand. He said that the provincial government would seek a report on this and present it in the house. The adjournment motion was subsequently approved by the house. Meanwhile, Jamaat-eIslami’s Humaira Khatoon has disclosed that there is no local government office in four districts of K-P, including Bajaur, and South and North Waziristan.

Citing official documents, she said that the municipality has only two vehicles and 15 computers in Bajaur tribal district, while there are no vehicles available to the local bodies in Nowshera, Upper Dir, Upper Chitral, Torghar, Orakzai and Kohistan districts. One vehicle each is available for more than 3,000 staff members of LBs in Bajaur, Battagram, and Haripur districts, while in Swat, the home district of the chief minister, the municipality has only five employees. Similarly, no post has been given to the minority communities in 19 districts, while no woman has been appointed in 21 districts. MPA Nisar Mohmand said that there are no village secretaries in Mohmand district while people continue to suffer.

ANP Parliamentary Leader Sardar Babak said that his constituency Nayabat in Buner district has been neglected since 2013. “Even at present, the Rescue 1122 service is not available in the district. The government is ignoring the constituencies of opposition MPAs in development funds distribution,” he said. “If the government thinks that by not releasing funds it can make people start hating the opposition, then it is living in fool’s paradise,” he added.

He said that MPAs would visit their constituencies during the ANP government despite terrorist attacks and bomb blasts, but the opposition MPAs’ self-esteem has been badly hurt because the PTI has made the government a personal fiefdom. Responding to MPA Babak, CM’s Special Assistant Riaz Khan said that a Category-D hospital was being built in his constituency. A degree college has also been approved, while road construction is in progress. “Work is being done in the health sector at a cost of millions of rupees. No constituency will be neglected,” he assured.