FATA residents demand merger with K-P

Want share of NFC awards, extension of SC’s jurisdiction to the tribal areas

LANDI KOTAL: Elected and non-elected leaders of various political parties and who hail from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) on Sunday demanded that the government grant the tribal area its due share in the national finance commission award and to implement its merger with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa before the next general election.

The clamour for the merger grew louder in a political gathering at Bar Qamber Khel village in Bara Tehsil of Khyber agency on Sunday.

MNA Shahjee Gul Afridi and MNA Shahabuddin Khan – the former an independent and the latter from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) - said that residents of Fata have sacrificed their lives for the stability of the federation and the country.

But now, their due right of a merger with K-P has been delayed by a few political forces on the demand of federation.

“We have joined the country via a referendum and through our own choice, nobody forced us. Yet, we are deprived of our rights and laws of the British continue to rule us,” Afridi complained.

“We fought the English rule for longer than any other in the sub-continent, we also suffered while military operations in the war against militancy were conducted, yet we still suffer under the draconian law of Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR),” the independent MNA said.

“The British rule has gone, but their law was still intact.”

He demanded that Fata should be merged into K-P and that the move should be finalised before the next general elections. Moreover, their provincial seats and constituencies should be announced before the government announces the next elections.

Shahabuddin said that they too were a part of Pakistan.

“We are securing the western border against Da’ish, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and their affiliate forces, yet we do not have our due share in the national finance commission, which is just three per cent of the shares of all other provinces,” the PML-N parliamentarian said.

“We also demand that supreme court and high court branches and their jurisdiction should be extended to Fata at once, and if the demands are not met as soon as possible, all the residents of Fata will march on to the capital in protest,” he warned.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 25^th, 2017.