Cabinet seeks body to look into PTM demands

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) cabinet on Thursday called for the establishment of a committee headed by federal interior minister for looking into the demands of the Pakhtun Peace Jirga which are related to the federal government.

It said that the committee must include representatives from the government, opposition parties and the K-P chief minister. It stressed that the federal government must listen to the demands of the jirga and work for fulfillment of its demands.

The 16th meeting of the K-P cabinet was held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur and attended by provincial ministers, advisers, special assistants, chief secretary, additional chief secretary, senior member of the Board of Revenue, and administrative secretaries.

The cabinet approved the transfer of 40 kanal land from Board of Revenue to the Pakistan Custom for the construction of the Custom House & Warehouses in Dera Ismail Khan, exempting the process from K-P PPRA. The Customs would pay Rs128.8 million for the land as per the FBR valuation table.

The provincial cabinet authorised the relief department to take up the case of establishing a desk at the Bacha Khan International Airport, Peshawar, to facilitate the transportation of the bodies brought from abroad.

The cabinet also approved Rs36 million grant for the purchase of three ambulances, and allowing Rs700,000 per month budget to Rescue 1122 under the head of POL and M&R. It decided that such transportation facility would be provided on demand from the Islamabad International Airport.

The cabinet allowed the federal government to legislate on the subject of explosives, and subsequent implementation of the National Explosive Policy.

Though the subject had been transferred to provinces through the 18th Constitutional Amendment and, it could be withdrawn only through an amendment but in view of its equal implication in every nook and corner of the country, it was required that single legislation should be enacted for the whole country.

Sindh had already granted such powers to the federal government while Punjab was in process to do so.

Cabinet approved amendments in the K-P Civil Servants (Appointments, Promotion and Transfer) Rules, 1989 for the reserved quota in BS-15 and below for transgender persons. Appointments against this quota will be subject to suitability for the post(s) in view of socio-cultural environment of the province.

The candidates would produce medical fitness certificate and the appointments would be subjected to the registration of candidates with the Social Welfare Department. There are only 457 registered transgender persons in the province.

Accepting a joint appeal of the non-FATA domicile holder employees, the cabinet approved revision of the fourth condition of its decision taken in the 12th meeting of the cabinet, allowing a partial relaxation of the ban for creation of positions of project employees with domicile from other than ex-FATA.

The cabinet sanctioned guidelines for nomination of the chairman of Production Bonus Utilisation Committee and revised Production Bonus Guidelines 2024. Under Petroleum Exploration and Production Policy 2012, the production bonus was payable once commercial production of oil and gas commences from a producing field. The policy authorises the provincial government to issue guidelines.