PESHAWAR: Information Minister Shah Farman on Wednesday responded to a question about the high incidence of serious crimes in the militancy-hit province in a very non-serious manner on the floor of the house.

When through a call attention notice in the provincial assembly Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl member Mufti Said Janan asked what measures the government was taking tocurb violence and rising crimes of extortion and kidnapping for ransom, the minister came up a unique reason.

Earlier, the provincial government used to blame the prevailing lawlessness, including militancy, on the US drone strikes in the tribal areas.

Mr Farman, who often speaks in a `philosophical` manner, replied that accumulation of wealth in the society was the root cause of surge in cases of extortion and kidnapping for ransom in the province, particularly in the provincial capital.

`When there is accumulation of wealth in the society, such crimes are happened,` he said.

The minister, however, hastened to add that the government was taking certain pre-emptive and proactive measures to fight the crimes andthat high-tech equipment and sniffer dogs would be provided to police in that respect.

He invited the opposition to come up with suggestions to eliminate crimes from the society saying the government would act upon them.

Mr Farman said police were fully empowered and added that ministers, advisers and members of the coalition parties were not interfering in their affairs.

Earlier during question-answer hour, Adviser to the Chief Minister on Prison Malik Mohammad Qasim said 144 prisoners, who escaped from Central Jail, Dera Ismail Khan last year, were still at large.

He said a total of 253 convicted and undertrial prisoners, including 23 terrorists, had escaped after the militants attacked the Dera IsmailKhan jail and 91 of them were rearrested.

Militants of the banned Tehreek-iTaliban Pakistan had stormed the prison on July 30 last year to free their colleagues.

The adviser said five personnel were killed and nine suffered injuries in the attack, while militants managed to escape due to the late response of the security agencies.

He said the jail superintendent, superintendent of police (Elite Force), deputy superintendent of police and 25 personnel of Elite Force had been suspended.

Mr Qasim said the provincial government had constituted a high-level commission to probe the jailbreak, which had presented recommendations to the government.

LEGISLATION: The assembly passed `The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Right to Public Services Bill, 2014` to provide delivery of public services to the people within the stipulated time, including liabilities of government servants in case of default, administrative efficiency and for the matters connected therewith and incidental thereto.

Under the new law, the government will establish the Public Services Commission to hear appeals against the orders of the appellate authority, make provisions for speedy access to public services in accordance with the provisions of the act, and pay compensation for delayed delivery of public services by any designated officer to the eligible person.

The chief commissioner will head the commission, who will be appointed for a term of three years.

The new law provides that it shall be mandatory on the part of the designated officer to provide public services to the eligible persons within the time limit that will be fixed by the government.

Special assistant on higher education Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani tabled four bills on agriculture pesticides, seeds, plant breeders` rights and farm services.

Speaker Asad Qaisar, who was in the chair, informed the House that the standing committees had been constituted.

He said appointment of paramilitary secretaries had caused the delay in the committees` formation.

The session was later adjourned until 3pm tomorrow (Friday).