Govt employees involved in terrorism to be sacked

PESHAWAR: The NWFP government has decided to terminate the services of the government employees found involved in terrorist activities while the properties of militants would be confiscated.

Briefing journalists after NWFP cabinet meeting Monday, Provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said the cabinet members had approved termination of the services of the government employees involved in subversive activities and list of such employees had been prepared. “However, secretary Law Department and secretary Establishment Department will submit reports within two weeks in this regard,” he added.

Similarly, he said, the cabinet asked the provincial chief secretary to present a report regarding the procedure of confiscation of the properties of militants. The cabinet meeting, which was briefed by Secretary Home, IGP NWFP and chiefs of ERU and PRRSA, was presided over by NWFP Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti.

Mian Iftikhar Hussain, who was flanked by provincial minister Muhammad Ayub Asharhi, said the cabinet expressed its satisfaction over the operation against militants in Swat, Buner and Lower Dir and approved head money of Rs0.5 million each against five top militants belonging to Maidan, Lower Dir district.

The militant leaders include Hafizullah, Qari Shahid, Dr Wazir Miftahuddin and Abdul Salam. The cabinet was told the situation was improving in Lower Dir where relief goods for some 15,274 in-camp IDPs and over 100,000 off-camp IDPs were being supplied.

The NWFP government requested the Pak Army to provide troops for protection of foreign engineers and other staff at under-construction Lowari Tunnel in Upper Dir district, he added.

The provincial cabinet was told that 119 police officials were killed while fighting against militants during last seven months while 53,000 kg explosives and over 400 rocket launcher shell were seized.

The NWFP IGP informed that 5,000 rifles, LMGs and 2,000 Kalashnikov (AK-47) rifles had been recovered from the militants and some 51,000 kg detonators and 4,000 dynamites were also seized. Likewise, 256 militants were killed and two were arrested, the cabinet was told.

The provincial minister said that the NWFP cabinet appreciated the role of law-enforcement agencies in the crisis-hit areas and agreed that the terrorist network had almost dismantled while the terrorists were on the run. “The militants were regrouping in some parts of the Malakand, but with the passage of time they would eliminated,” he added.

He said that 85 per cent of the IDPs from Buner had reached their hometowns while the rest of the displaced persons from Buner would reach their house after obtaining smart cards and registration. He said that the security forces were conducting search operation in some union councils of Buner whereas officials of police and Frontier Corps were patrolling in the area.

The minister informed that some 40,000 internally displaced persons had returned to affected districts of Malakand till Sunday last while some 12,000 more were expected on Monday.

He said that Sheikh Shehzad and Sheikh Yaseen camps in Mardan district had had been officially ceased to exist from where all the IDPs had gone back to their respective towns.

The IDPs camps in Jalala and Mazdoorabad would be closed within the next few days while repatriation from schools and other government buildings would start from July 22, he added.