Cabinet defers approval of FATA reforms

Will seek to alleviate concerns of JUI-F and PkMAP

ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet has once again deferred approval of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) reform committee report 2016 to remove concerns of two federal government allies – the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and the Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP).

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif chaired the cabinet meeting on Thursday which reviewed Fata reforms report, repatriation and management policy for Afghan refugees and proposal for establishment of a permanent secretariat for Council of Common Interests (CCI).

The PM, after discussing the Fata reforms report at length with the cabinet members, deferred the final decision for further consultations. Both houses of parliament have already had lengthy debates on the report.

Minister for Information Marriyum Aurangzeb and Minister for States and Frontier Regions Abdul Qadir Baloch later informed the media that the Fata reforms committee led by Adviser to PM on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz would contact JUI-F and PkMAP to address their concerns on the reforms.

Both the parties and their heads had expressed concern over the reforms package and demanded of the government to first forge consensus over the package.

Aurangzeb said PM Nawaz appreciated the Fata reforms committee for formulation of first-ever inclusive package for the tribal people.  However, she said as the initiative was important, “therefore, all relevant stakeholders will be taken on board before the final decision on the reports’ implementation.”

Baloch said principally the JUI-F and the PkMAP were not opposed to the package but they had certain reservations which would be removed through talks. “The parties have written dissenting notes on the reforms report and we will soon reach out to them for finding a way out amicably,” he added.

In one of the sessions of the National Assembly, the JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman had strongly criticised the reforms package and demanded referendum in Fata about its merger in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and on other major proposals of the package.

Baloch said the reforms package largely focuses on gradual merger of Fata into the K-P. “The majority of residents of the area are in favour of the decision,” he said.  The minister said the Fata package also proposes a ten-year development plan for the tribal areas, adding that funds in this regard would be arranged from the federal divisible pool.

“As the matter is also linked with provinces, therefore it will also be discussed with provinces in the meeting of the CCI today,” he added.

She said no decision could be made about the CCI secretariat, which was another long-standing demand of the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination to avert delay in coordination with all stakeholders. “The current government will take credit to finalise the long overdue Fata reforms,” she added.

Talking with reference to the issue of Afghan refugees,  Baloch said: “The government has already decided about the extension in the repatriation of Afghan refugees till December 2017.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 16^th, 2016.