JI announces long march against federal government

Says will hold a sit-in after the march in front of the PM House

PESHAWAR: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) on Friday announced that it will hold a long march against the federal government for delaying the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) merger with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

The party’s provincial chief Mushtaq Ahmad Khan, while addressing a news conference in Peshawar, lamented that the federal government was applying delaying tactics in the merger of tribal areas with K-P.

Mushtaq announced that JI will organize a long march on December 10 form Babe Khyber to Islamabad followed by a sit-in outside the prime minister house for the senseless attitude of the federal government towards Fata.



“We couldn’t bear any more fraud and cheating of the federal government with the tribal people,” the JI leader said, adding, religious leaders, political parties, youth and people from all walks of life could participate in the long march.

He said conventions will be organised ahead of the march by the party in all agencies of Fata to convince the tribals to participate and convey to the federal government that it was responsible for the current situation in Fata.

“Fata is like an open prison where the rights of tribal people aren’t guaranteed and the area is governed through a few officers and the very same people are against the merger of Fata,” claimed the JI leader.



Furthermore, he said the federal government can amend laws within days for a ‘disqualified’ prime minister but couldn’t provide due rights to the millions of tribal people governed through draconian Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR).

Showing concerns over the recent census, he said the census in Fata should be reviewed since there is speculation that population of the area is more than one million.