PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mahmood Khan while expressing his concern on the increasing incidents of law and order has directed the relevant departments and entities to make coordinated and concerted efforts under a well devised strategy to curb such incidents.
He was presiding over a high-level meeting to review law and order in the province here on Friday.
Besides, Chief Secretary Dr. Shehzad Bangash, Inspector General of Police Muazam Jah Ansaari, Principal Secretary to CM Amjad Ali Khan, Secretary Home Khushal Khan, representatives of 11 Corps and other civil and military officials attended the meeting.
The meeting took stock of the overall law & order situation in the province including Newly Merged Districts.
The meeting discussed and reviewed various factors behind the increasing incidents of law & order in the province and took important decisions to improve the overall situation to a satisfactory level by taking action against criminals and miscreants.
The meeting decided to further strengthen the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) and to extend it to the district level, and the relevant police officials were directed to submit workable proposals to this effect.
The meeting also agreed to constitute a joint forum of all the stakeholders in order to ensure integrated efforts against the incidents of law & order in the province by putting in place an effective mechanism of coordination and liaison among the concerned civil and military entities.
It was also decided in the meeting to hold monthly meetings of concerned departments with the chief minister in the chair to review law & order situation in the province on a regular basis.
Similarly, the forum has decided to immediately set up a special cell under CTD to effectively curb the incidents of extortion in the province, and the concerned authorities were directed to take steps for the awareness of the general public regarding the aforesaid cell.
Besides, it was also decided to have an effective mechanism against the facilitators and abettors and miscreants. The meeting underlined the need for integrated efforts at national level to eliminate incidents of law & order in the country on a sustainable basis and directed the concerned authorities to ensure close coordination between the federal and provincial governments in this regard.
It was also decided that an effective strategy would be evolved at provincial level in the light of recommendations of the National Action Plan.
The meeting also discussed the matters pertaining to improving the criminal justice system and to update the existing system of prosecution and investigations in accordance with the needs of the modern era.
Similarly, concerned authorities were directed to review the security plan of the ongoing mega developmental projects in the province and to take necessary steps to make it foolproof.
The meeting also underlined the need to engage local communities, religious leaders and media in order to eliminate the incidents of militancy and law & order on a sustainable basis directing the authorities concerned to formulate a mechanism for the purpose.
Addressing the participants, the chief minister directed that all the concerned authorities present a progress report on the tasks assigned to them in the next meeting.
The chief minister also directed the concerned quarters to immediately provide the required funds to CTD to improve its capacity and extend it to the gross root level.
He directed the police department to take result oriented action against drug dealers and land grabbers in the province. The chief minister has termed maintenance of law and order as one of the top priorities and prime responsibility of his government and said that the government would provide all the required financial resources for the purpose.