Fazl wants referendum on FATA merger

JUI-F chief says let people of tribal regions decide their future

ISLAMABAD: Chief of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) Maulana Fazlur Rehman harshly criticised on Thursday policymakers and the establishment over Fata reforms report, calling for holding a referendum on the question of merging Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

The Maulana came down hard on stakeholders in his speech on the second day of discussion on the report and accused them of lying and using media and other forums for exaggerating facts.



The report was finalised by a six-member committee headed by Advisor to the Prime Minister Sartaj Aziz which recommends merging the tribal region into the province, besides suggesting various steps for accelerating the region’s socio-economic development, rehabilitation of displaced persons and electoral and legal reforms.



Urging policy makers not to enforce plans made in Islamabad on the people of Fata, he said: “Let them decide their future … they are already branded traitors or Afghan nationals elsewhere in the country.

“There are severe restrictions on people who are trying to resettle in areas (in the wake of) military operation and people are passing through an age of trials and tribulations,” he said.

Drawing parallels between Fata and Kashmir, he said: “You lament about the situation in (Indian occupied) Kashmir, but the ground reality is far worse … in Fata.”

An MNA from Fata, GG Jamal, who had called for early resettlement of Temporarily Dislocated Persons (TDPs) in Fata, was presiding over the session.



Terming the idea alluring, he wondered: “Do you think all will be well by preparing just one report on merger of Fata?”

He also asked how anyone could decide that Fata needed to be merged with KP. “Stop this jugglery of words and discontinue spreading unrealistic rhetoric using the media,” he maintained.

He said that instead of making a list of probable solutions to the Fata conundrum, there was a need for holding a referendum on the issue.

Fazl also questioned the population data cited in the report, asking when any census was held in the region. “When people were displaced following the military operation, we were told that about one million have reached the camps and about 400,000 had gone to Afghanistan,” he said, adding that nobody knew the actual numbers.

Without naming anyone in particular, the JUI-F chief also cited the peace deal signed with Sufi Muhammad in 2009.

Lashing out at the report, he said that after the merger, the Senate seats would be gone and there would be no quota for students from tribal areas.

“Fata should be a separate province with its own governor, courts, cabinet and its own set-up to function (as an administrative entity),” he said.

Urging policymakers to stop deceiving the people in Fata, he said: “Have mercy on them.”

Pointing out the low attendance in the house, leader of the opposition in NA Syed Khurshid Shah urged the chair to adjourn the session.

A lawmaker from the treasury benches Ghalib Khan from Wana also stated that KP was a poor province on the verge of going bankrupt with funds lapsing and government was trying to overburden it by merging Fata with it.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 30^th, 2016.