A positive step by political leaders from all parties in “NWFP”.
PESHAWAR: Demand for autonomy, renaming NWFP
By Our Correspondent
PESHAWAR, Aug 2: Federal Minister for Culture Dr Ghazi Gulab Jamal said on Wednesday that the NWFP government should strive to judiciously utilise provincial resources and resolve outstanding issues with the federal government.
The minister also called for renaming the NWFP as ‘Pukhtunistan’. He was addressing the concluding session of a two-day consultative seminar organised by MPA Arshad Khan.
The Wednesday’s session was presided over by NWFP Assembly Speaker Bakht Jehan and addressed by MNA Sher Akbar Khan and Maulana Ghulam Mohammad Sadiq, MPAs Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani, Pir Mohammad Khan, Arshad Khan and Sardar Ayub.
Dr Jamal said that the provincial government was responsible for makeing plans for proper utilisation of available resources and attracting investors.
Eulogising the policies of the federal government, he said that the provinces had been given increased shares from the federal divisible pool under the current NFC Award and the Council of Common Interest had been revived.
NWFP Speaker Bakht Jehan stressed the need for holding such seminars and said that they provide a single platform to federal and provincial parliamentarians to develop consensus on the issues of the province.
He said that being a custodian of the provincial assembly he could not impose his decision or opinion. He said that the NWFP should be renamed with the consensus of the people.
The speaker said the country could progress only if institutions like parliament, judiciary, executive and press were made independent.
He urged parliamentarians belonging to the NWFP and Fata to join hands for their collective cause.
He said that the federal government should respect and implement the resolutions being passed by the NWFP Assembly regarding certain issues.
Mualana Ghulam Sadiq said the NWFP should be renamed as Pukhtunistan and be given control of all its resources.
Pir Mohammad Khan said that when the MMA provincial government was not sincere in distributing uplift schemes and developmental funds then how could it justify demands from the federal government.
He said that political intolerance had distracted all the provincial legislators from the main issues like renaming of the province, net hydel profit and provincial rights and autonomy.