RECORDER REPORT

PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pervez Khattak has categorically stated that Pakistan needs an honest leadership to develop a transparent system and pull out the country from quagmire of phenomenal problems. It is a concomitant obligation to have honest leadership and depoliticize institutions to open the way for an autonomous and transparent system of governance. “The history of developed nations indicates these two factors,” he added.

He was addressing the participants of 19th National Security Workshop at Chief Minister House Peshawar. Senior Provincial Minister Inayatullah, Minister for Information Shah Farman, Minister for Education Muhammad Atif Khan, MPA Shaukat Yousafzai, administrative secretaries of concerned departments and high officials attended.

He said it is strange that all political parties kept on talking about the change and development but none implemented their manifesto adding that PTI was the only political force that had a vision, showed commitment to implement its manifesto laying the foundation for a transparent government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He came hard on elements questioning the change that his government brought about. Actually such elements were the forces of status quo and wittingly objecting to the noble intentions of his government because such elements used to draw their strength from the inefficient and corrupt system of the past, he added.

The Chief Minister said his government was working on the revival of institutions and workable system for delivery to the people. The present Pakhtunkhwa was better off today than before and this made a big difference. We would not look back to the dissenting voices of the system but would work on the improved delivery that would be an appropriate response to the opposing elements.

The Chief Minister briefed the participants about the reforms process that his government initiated; the performance of his government in four years and the challenges surfaced during the process of implementation, adding that his government was committed to the change right from day one.

He said that it was unfortunate that we lagged behind in the race of development when the nations at international level completed their march to prosperity and development. The developed nations were not superior to us but they developed a system that led them to prosperity. Therefore his government decided to change the system and depoliticized the public sector institutions to ensure expeditious development. It was a big challenge but he started spending on the improvement of system and he succeeded to the maximum level. On a question, he referred to the objections of certain political heads questioning the healthcare, education and other reforms adding that such elements ruled this country and destroyed the institutions and system, and they could not escape the blame for the present mess. They are equally responsible as they did not realize the injustices against the poor.

He talked about the construction of additional rooms in the schools, the introduction of English right from the beginning in the schools and covering the missing facilities and the recruitment of 40 thousand teachers on merit. He also talked about the increase of salaries of doctors and other nursing staff etc so that they could go to the far flung hospitals and improve health delivery.

Pervez Khattak said that the reforms in the police, making the force independent of political interference, the establishment of intelligence, CTD and training schools enhanced the performance of police. The province had an intelligence sharing mechanism that improved the overall law and order situation in the province and asked other provinces to depoliticize their police force.

The Chief Minister said that the unmanned Pak-Afghan border was the root cause of lawlessness in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that discourages the investment in the province. However, the efficient border management and the operations such as Zarb-e-Azb and Radul Fasad improved the security situation in the province.

To another question, he said that he discouraged the booty mafia that controlled the sell and purchase of marks and therefore the result emerged transparent in the process but against the high hopes and expectations of the parents. Now the entire examination system would go through a constant monitoring mechanism that would have a far-reaching result for the overall standardization of education system.