NWFP Governor Lieutenant General Ali Muhammad Jan Aurakzai (Retd) held a maiden meeting with the Members of National Assembly (MNAs) from Fata at Governor's House on Saturday. The participants resolved to strive for the restoration of peace and acceleration of development process in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.
Amongst the MNAs, the Federal Minster for Culture Dr Ghazi Gulab Jamal, Maulana Muhammad Sadiq, Sahibzada Haroon Rashid, Maulana Ghulam Muhammad Sadiq, Maulana Khalil-ur-Rehman, Maulana Noorul Haq Quadari, Haji Munir Aurakzai, Dr Javed Hussain, Haji Nasim Afridi, Maulana Merajuddin and Maulana Abdul Malik and Maulana Nek Zaman attended the meeting besides the Fata Secretary Muhammad Shahzad Arbab and Secretary to Governor Arbab Muhammad Arif.
The MNAs welcomed the appointment of General Aurakzai as the Governor and assured him all out support and co-operation in running the Fata affairs smoothly and fulfilling the expectations of the people of the tribal areas. They said the people of Fata were proud of having a fellow tribesman as Governor of the Province and Chief Executive for Fata.
They also highlighted certain issues and problems confronting the Fata and apprised the Governor of development requirements of their respective constituencies. They expressed concern over the situation in Waziristan and feared its spread to other Agencies as well.
Talking to the parliamentarians, the Governor Ali Muhammad Jan Aurakzai said that peace in Fata was the first and foremost need of the hour adding that collective efforts by all concerned were needed to restore peace in Waziristan and maintain it elsewhere in Fata. The Governor said that they must dig out the root causes of unrest in Waziristan and address the issues accordingly so as to regain confidence of the people. He said that the development process could not be carried on in a chaotic atmosphere. "We have seen that the development process had suffered a great set back in all those areas wherever the trouble persisted." However, he was sure that with the active co-operation of the elected representative and peace loving tribesmen, they would get the desired results.
Referring to the development strategy the Governor stressed that projects with collective benefits would be preferred and planned as per actual needs and requirements of the people.