Islamabad: A 3-Member delegation of Department of Intentional Development (DFID) UKaid headed by Ms Sarah Ladbury called on Deputy Speaker, National Assembly Faisal Karim Kundi in Parliament House today.
Talking to delegation the Deputy Speaker said that as a front line state in war against terrorism Pakistan’s economy has suffered badly besides, huge loses of lives of innocent citizens and personnel of security forces. He said that poverty, illiteracy and lack of economic opportunities were the major causes of insurgency and extremism in the country specially in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and FATA. He said that due to lack of education and unemployment in FATA insurgents exploited the youth of area for their nefarious designs. He underline the need for immediate measures for provision of education, health and other basic amenities to the people of FATA and its adjacent areas. The Deputy Speaker said that during the devastating floods a large number of educational institutions in the area were damaged and needed immediate attention. He called upon the international community to come forward and assist Pakistan to address the scourge of extremism and terrorism.
He said that the present democratic setup in the country was committed to provide the basic civic amenities to the masses and to meet the challenges confronting to the country through its own resources however, the assistance of the donor agencies and friendly countries like UK will supplement the efforts of the government. He asked the UKaid to initiate project in tribal with special focus on health, education, infrastructure development and create economic opportunities for people of the tribal belt.
Head of delegation Ms Sarah Ladbury apprised the Deputy Speaker about DFID UKaid border areas program. She said that overall scope of this assignment was to develop a comprehensive program to address conflict and insecurity in the border areas in consultation with Government of Pakistan, UK mission in Pakistan and other stakeholders. She said that the purpose of this program will be to resolve the problems of the people of border areas and to encourage better relations between the citizen and state. She said that a sum of £30 million will be spent during five year under this program
For more information, contact:
Karamat Hussain Niazi
Secretary
National Assembly of Pakistan
Parliament House, Islamabad
Tel: +9251 922 1082 -83
Fax: +9251 922 1106