Senate panel reviews induction of Khasadars in Orakzai, Bajaur dists

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Committee on States and Frontier Regions discussed the absorption of 23 Khasadars from Orakzai district and eight Khasadars from Bajaur district on Thursday.

It was reported that the 23 Khasadars from Orakzai district have been absorbed, but the eight Khasadars from Bajaur district could not be absorbed as they retired before the absorption process.

The meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on States and Frontier Regions, chaired by Senator Hilalur Rehman, took place on Thursday at the Parliament House.

Senator Hidayat Ullah noted that the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ordered the absorption of Khasadars and Levies on April 4, 2019, but the personnel retired in July 2019.

Additional Chief Secretary of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Syed Imtiaz H Shah explained that the act for the absorption of personnel was enacted in September 2019. Personnel who retired before the enactment of the act could not fall within the ambit of absorption.

The committee ordered seeking legal opinions on the act to determine if there was any way out for the absorption of the eight Khasadars.

Regarding the implementation status of committee recommendations concerning the absorption of 91 Khasadars from South Waziristan, officials said that the absorption had not been recommended by the Validating Committee, as the personnel failed to submit the required documents against their claims.

The committee directed the KP Police Department to reconsider the matter and submit a report in the next meeting.

The committee also addressed the matter of Rs1.5 billion released by the federal government out of AIP funds to the KPK Relief and Rehabilitation Department for the payment of damaged public houses in South Waziristan.

Officials suggested shifting Rs1.5 billion to the current account from the development account since there are no development schemes for South Waziristan.

The Finance Ministry mentioned challenges in the transfer due to the lack of response from the P&D and the inability to transfer funds from the development account to the current account.

The committee recommended the Finance Ministry find a possible solution to the matter. Additionally, the committee received a briefing on the objectives of the Merged Areas Governance Programme (MAGP-II).

Officials said that this $44 million programme, funded by the UNDP, focuses on border governance, support for local governance, and the delivery of basic services. The programme is directly executed by the UNDP without the coordination of KK.

Senator Sania Nishtar inquired about on-ground details, but officials failed to provide concrete responses. Senator Hilalur Rehman remarked that the scheme seems fraudulent, as the local administration and the KPK home department do not know about it.

The committee decided to form a sub-committee to address the concerns of the members. Moreover, the committee discussed the implementation status of the recommendations made by the sub-committee regarding the mandatory use of the GIS system, mandatory end-to-end digital procurement, and the installation of a biometric verification system.

The committee expressed dissatisfaction and directed the KPK government to make efforts for the utilisation of digital procurement as it paves the way for good governance.