Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Governor Masud Kausar on May 16 said
that about 90 percent of the seven
tribal areas and Frontier Regions
are under Government control because
of successful action against the militants
and activities to revive public life
are gearing up as a result, reports
Central Asia Online. “I must
say, apart from North Waziristan Agency
and some parts of South Waziristan
Agency, the remaining FATA (Federally
Administered Tribal Areas) is clear
now and the government writ is being
consolidated,” Governor Masud Kausar
said. “Not only peace restoration
but the mega-development projects,
like roads in South and North
Waziristan, as well as dams and irrigating
projects, have been started to provide
livelihood support to the tribesmen,”
he added, noting that development
would pick up as peace returns. Allocations
for the FATA Annual Development Programme
have grown to PKR 20 billion (USD
219 million) from a starting point
of PKR 1-2 million, clearly indicating
the commitment to improve life in
FATA, he further said.
Meanwhile, the University of Peshawar has
beefed up security after the Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa Governor Masud Kausar
directed it to protect professors
who received threatening letters from
the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Mujeeb ur Rehman of the English Department
and Sarfraz Khan of the area studies
centre received death threats from
the TTP on May 1 because of reports
that controversial writer Salman Rushdie’s
novels would be included in college
curricula, campus police officer Abdus
Salam Khalid told Central Asia
Online May 16. Both professors
wrote to KP Governor Masud Kausar,
who is also chancellor of the university
and to the home secretary requesting
protection, he said. “We have issued
directives to all the 12 checkpoints
at the university to carry out stringent
checking of the vehicles and the pedestrians
and keep vigil on suspected people,”
Khalid added. More Policemen were
assigned to the check post near Professor
Colony to keep out villagers from
nearby Nasirbagh and Malkhandher,
he said. Security men also are guarding
the professors’ offices, he added. |
