Presidential decree for FATA’s merger being mulled

Majority of Cabinet members support the proposal, call it viable option in present circumstances

ISLAMABAD: Faced with lack of support from its own allies over the Federally Administered Tribal Areas’ merger with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the federal government is now mulling over bringing a presidential order (not ordinance) for the merger.

The issue was discussed in detail during the weekly cabinet meeting presided over by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Tuesday.

A day earlier, the PM held a meeting with parliamentary leaders in a bid to forge consensus on Fata reforms. While mainstream political parties, including the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and the Pakistan Peoples Party, strongly support Fata’s merger with K-P, smaller political groups like the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl and the Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami party oppose it.



During the cabinet meeting, the PM was of the view that the government should move to bring a presidential order, to be promulgated by the president of Pakistan, on the advice of the PM for Fata’s merger with K-P, according to official sources.

Reportedly, the majority of cabinet members supported this proposal, maintaining that the presidential order was the only viable option in the present circumstances.

A source who attended the cabinet meeting said the PM and several cabinet members are of the view that opposition parties such as the PTI and PPP would take political advantage if the government failed to have Fata merged with K-P.

“It would be a huge setback for us in general elections if we failed to honour our pledge to get Fata merged with KP,” the source said.

The ruling lot, he said, is of the view that in the wake of overwhelming public and political support in favour of Fata’s merger with K-P, the government does not need to pay heed to smaller political groups like the JUI-F and the PkMAP which oppose the Fata merger.

The PkMAP lacks any political representation in the Parliament from Fata and it has no representation in the K-P Assembly altogether.

“Our government’ tenure ends on May 31 and much has been going on — budget session; pending passage of Finance Bill 2018 and negotiations on caretaker set-up. There isn’t much time to bring a bill seeking the National Assembly and the Senate’s nod on Fata reforms after developing political consensus. Presidential order is required in such a situation,” the source said.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, constitutional expert and former ECP secretary Kanwar Dilshad said the president of Pakistan is constitutionally empowered to issue any order regarding Fata which does not need any parliamentary legislation.

“The president is the constitutional chief executive/patron-in-chief of Fata. He has the power to issue a presidential order to merge Fata with KP. Unlike a presidential ordinance, a presidential order (which is Fata specific) does not lapse and it does not require any parliamentary legislation.”

Dilshad said presidential order is the “best practicable option” for the federal government in the prevailing scenario. “The government has already wasted a lot of time making hollow political compromises on a national issue as important as Fata’s merger with KP. It cannot afford wasting any more time.”



Last week, PM Abbasi had reiterated in the NA to implement Fata reforms before the completion of the federal government’s tenure.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet approved renewal of agreement for coordination in the field of education between the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination Pakistan and Ministry of Education of the Kyrgyz Republic.

The Cabinet also approved signing of the memorandums of understandings and agreements on cooperation in agricultural research and development for the Belt & Road among Ministry of National Food Security & Research, the Institute of Plant Protection, the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science and the Centre for Agricultural and Bioscience International (CABI) Pakistan.

The Cabinet also approved signing of agreement on transfer of offenders between Pakistan and Jordan.

An agreement was also signed for provision of credit line facility amounting to $14 million to Somalia related to provision of services by the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA).

Moreover, nominations of vice-president, treasurer and the members of governing body of the Iqbal Academy Pakistan, Lahore were approved.

The cabinet also approved appointment of board of directors of the National Security Printing Company (NSPC).