PESHAWAR: A special meeting of the caretaker provincial cabinet was held here on Wednesday with the caretaker Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Muhammad Azam khan in the chair. The forum discussed and reviewed the various matters regarding law and order in the wake of prevailing situation in the province.
Cabinet members, Chief Secretary, IGP and administrative secretaries attended the meeting. The cabinet was briefed in details about law and order situation and measures taken by the government in order to maintain law and order in the province.
In his address to the participants of the meeting, the chief minister expressed grave concerns over the loss and damages to public and private properties due to violent protests at different spots of the province since yesterday. He regretted that protest and freedom of expression is a democratic, political and constitutional right of everyone but it should be done in a peaceful and democratic manner.
He made it clear that no one would be allowed to damage the public and private properties under the guise of protest under any circumstances adding that it is not in anyone’s interest to damage it.
Azam Khan maintained that it was the first responsibility of the government to maintain law and order as well as to protect the life and property of its people and the government cannot neglect its this responsibility under any circumstances.
The Chief Minister further clarified that the protesters must use their democratic right to protest but avoid disrupting peace and damaging properties; if the protesters try to take the law into their own hands, the law will come into action, he warned.
The Chief Minister directed the concerned authorities to pay special attention to the security of government properties and sensitive installations across the province.
Lauding the role police and administration in maintaining law and order in prevailing situation, the chief minister said that the government will provide all necessary resources to the police for this purpose and order and use all available options to establish the writ of the Government.
