The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday ordered the suspension of the Insaf Rozgar Scheme in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Issuing directives, the ECP directed the KP chief secretary and Finance secretary to freeze funds of the project and summoned a report till June 25. The ECP further said that the announcement of projects in tribal areas was a violation of its code of conduct.
KP Chief Minister Mahmood Khan had distributed documents of interest-free loans among the youth in tribal districts under which loans worth Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 million would be given to men and women of the tribal areas.
Under the Insaf Rozgar Scheme, around 5,500 people will be given loans in the initial phase. More than 2,000 applications have been received so far. Separately, elections in 16 tribal districts will be held under the supervision of the army. The ECP has decided to entrust security arrangements for the polling to the military. Army personnel will monitor the polling process in the former tribal region. The polling on 16 provincial legislature seats in the region will be held on July 20. The ECP had earlier announced to hold elections in the tribal districts of the former FATA region on July 2. The polling date for the election later changed on the request of the provincial government. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had sought a delay in the conduct of the polls, citing law and order situation in the newly-merged tribal districts. A meeting chaired by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice (r) Sardar Raza Khan considered the government request and deferred the polling day to July 20. The ECP had earlier enforced a ban on transfers and postings in government departments in the region. The ECP had in April notified district returning officers (DROs), returning officers (ROs) and assistant returning officers (AROs) for general elections in the tribal districts. The provincial election commissioner was appointed as returning officer for the five reserved seats from the region including four for women and one for non-Muslims. Over 2.5 million voters will exercise universal suffrage to elect their representatives for the provincial legislature. There are at least 1.03 million registered women voters in the seven merged districts of the former tribal region.
