Govt making efforts to resolve provincial autonomy issue: Saifullah
By Asif Hussain

ISLAMABAD—Federal Minister for Inter Provincial Coordination (IPC) Salim Saifullah Khan has said that government is making concerted efforts to resolve the provincial autonomy issue and a draft in this regard will be finalized and presented to the IPC committee on December 31.
Talking to APP here on Sunday the minister said various political parties had already sent their proposals while others have shown interest to forward their suggestions.
Referring to yesterday’s Inter Provincial Coordination Committee (IPCC) meeting in Lahore, he said the committee has decided that all provinces will be accorded financial autonomy in accordance with their proposals.
“There are 47 items in the concurrent list and the federal government is sorting out modalities to transfer 25 items to the provinces,” he added.
The minister said on the other hand about 90 percent work on the recommendations forwarded by PML Secretary General SenatorMushahid’s committee on the issue has been completed.
Saifullah urged opposition parties to come forward and extend full cooperation to government over the issue.
He said the Nationa Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) recently has announced that it would also submit its recommendations to President Pakistan Muslim League, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain by December 31.
Salim Saifullah Khan said a pragmatic approach has been adopted and expressed the hope the issue would be solved amicably soon.
He said government was working to transfer powers in financial sphere to the provinces and then onwards to local governments. He said Local Government system was an ideal for resolving the issues which have direct bearings on the lives of common people.
“But in NWFP the provincial government is trying to undermine its utility by erecting hurdles in its functioning,” he added.
Saifullah said their performance hinge only on false propaganda and hollow promises. MMA’s stance on different issues have already backfired, he added.
“Before blaming others for their own misdeeds, they should calculate their own performance in NWFP!” the minister posed a question.
He said instead of living in fool’s paradise they must focus on the welfare of people.
Saifullah said, “In every UC of Punjab development projects amounting to millions of rupees have been executed while in NWFP the provincial government is setting new records of corruption and mismanagement.”
The minister said for the last seven years record development projects have been completed throughout the country and the credit goes to the dynamic leadership of President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.