PESHAWAR, Oct 22: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has expressed concern over the delay by federal government in initiating peace talks with Taliban.

In a handout issued here on Tuesday, he said that Taliban continued to say that they hadn`t received any formal offer of talks from the government. `We are also aware of this delay,` he added.

The chief minister said that the inaction on part of the federal government to materialise the resolution of all parties conference was allowing those elements, who wanted to sabotage the dialogue, to increase acts of terrorism. Mr Khattak stressed the need for putting in place a structured dialogue so that talks were not conductedthrough media as it would lead to spread of disinformation.

`The people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa along with the provincial government have to bear the brunt of federal government`s vacillation with increasing acts of terrorism taking place, resulting in the loss of innocent lives,` the chief minister said.

He said that the APC-mandated dialogue must be initiated without any delay to expose the opponents of peace. He demanded of the prime minister to immediately hold talks with militants to give peace a chance.

`Revelations now coming about the unlawful killing of civilians by the US drones,` Mr Khattak said.

He referred to a news item of last week where a UN investigationfound that the US drone strikes had killed at least 400 civilians in Pakistan, far more than the US had ever acknowledged.

`Today we have the Amnesty report on drone killings, stating that the US must be held accountable for killings in Pakistan,` the chief minister said, adding that the report once again vindicated PTPs principled opposition to drone attacks.

He said that the Amnesty report was a damning condemnation of the US drone killings. `We insist that federal government should immediately stop drone attacks,` he said.

APP adds: The chief minister said that PTI-led government closed all doors of corruption in the province as effective legislationwas being enacted to stop wastage of public money and uproot all sort of malpractices and nepotism so that nobody could embezzle a single penny from the government exchequer in future.

`We consider government a trust of people with us and think ourselves as servants of the masses so we will benefit our poor people with the fruits of development for sure,` Mr Khattak told 35-member delegation from Karak that called on him on Tuesday afternoon.

The delegation besides discussing various political and regional matters with the chief minister, also apprised him of certain problems of the area.

About site of the proposed oil refinery in southern districts, the chief minister said that it wouldbe set up on technical grounds and not on political and regional basis.

`The refinery will be established in private sector while the investors prefer their factories in that area where all the facilities including manpower, water, electricity and communications are easily available,` he said.

However, he said wherever the refinery was set all the people of southern districts would equally benefit from it. He said that the provincial government could not tolerate delay in that regard and he wanted to establish the refinery as soon as possible.

Regarding share of Karak in the gas royalty, the chief minister said that they believed in transparent and judicious use of public resour-ces and were providing maximum relief to the poor as it was their foremost priority to accelerate the speed of progress and prosperity in southern districts.

Mr Khattak said that they stopped release of funds for new development schemes because they wanted to eliminate commission mafia to improve the quality of schemes.

Regarding the complaints about smuggling from the adjacent tribal belt and unrest in the area, the chief minister contacted the authorities concerned and directed them for effective steps.

The delegation expressed sorrow over Kulachi suicide blast and assassination of law minister Irsarullah Gandapur and offered fateha for the departed soul.