Voice of dissent: Tribespeople protest at Bab-e-Khyber

Say decision on Fata’s future should be withheld till IDPs are repatriated

JAMRUD: Residents of Khyber Agency have said a decision on the integration of Federally Administered Tribal Areas with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa should be withheld till IDPs have been repatriated.

A large number of tribespeople protested at Bab-e-Khyber in Jamrud, Khyber Agency on Wednesday against the integration of Fata into the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. They also raised their voices against the abolition of Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR).

Tribal maliks and elders of the agency participated in the gathering. The protesters shouted slogans  against the governor of K-P and federal government.

“We don’t want to do away with FCR,” Haji Abdur Razzaq, a protester, told The Express Tribune. “It is the foundation for our traditions. If the law is replaced or changed, the bonds of the society will be dismantled. However, we only want the draconian sections of the law to be removed.”

He said a series of military offensives are being carried out in the tribal belt and most locals have been displaced.

“How can a decision be taken without taking the people who will be affected by the decision into account?” he asked. “We need changes in our laws,” Malik Khalid Khan Afridi, another protester, said. “The status of Fata should be changed but the real representatives of the agencies have not been asked for their opinions.” According to Afridi, the government should retain the jirga system and urged the federal government to preserve status quo in Fata till the situation improves in the region.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 26^th, 2016.