PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) have announced to initiate joint steps for improvement of sports facilities in the province in order to fight militancy with positive and healthy activities.

The announcement was made at the concluding session of the daylong national sports conference organised by the PSB here on Tuesday. Those who attended the event included KP sports ministerMehmood Khan, deputy secretary sports Adil Saeed, former squash world No 2 Mohibullah Khan, former international athlete Habib Shah, Dr Salahuddin, DG Sports Rashida Ghaznavi, Fata director sports Mohammad Nawaz, director sports higher education Abdur Rashid Anwar, sports sciences students of Gomal University, Sarhad University, Abdul Wali Khan University, and office-bearers of the sports associations.

PSB DG Dr Akhtar Nawaz Ganjera said that the work so far done in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for the promotion of sports was symbolic. He said that as desired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, national sports conferences would also be organised in other provinces to get suggestions of the sports scholars, sports technocrats and those internationalheroes who served the country in the field of sports.

He appreciated the way the KP government had initiated various steps right from the union council level to provincial level for promotion of sports. He praised Adil Saeed for the briefing on the policy and other steps taken for promotion of sports in the province.

Answering a question, Dr Ganjera said that office-bearers of all the Provincial Olympic Associations would be taken on board to prepare a comprehensive strategy for boosting sports and ensuring implementation of the nationalsports policy.

Mehmood Khan said that the provincial government had initiated the first step to ensure provision of playing fields to the youth and for this purpose over 38 grounds had been ready and uti-lised in the ongoing Under-23 Games. He said as promised by PTI chief Imran Khan 76 grounds would be ready for playing purposes till December this year. He also underlined the need for a durable solution to the ongoing tussle between the two groups of KP Olympics association.

`Who will come up, the PSB or the POA, to stop this war in sports,` the minister said, adding that the KP government would support PSB for revival of sports in the country.

Mohammad Nawaz and other officials called for allocation of sportsfundsforFata so that players could be provided with sports goods and other facilities. Dr Ganjera said all recommendations would be presented in a grand conference to be organised in Islamabad in March.