Fata reforms: PM Abbasi chairs parliamentary meeting

Meeting aimed to take JUI-F, PkMAP into confidence before presenting bill in NA

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi chaired on Wednesday a parliamentary meeting pertaining to the merger of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

PM Abbasi met the parliamentary leaders for the third time since he announced implementation of Fata reforms before end of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government's tenure this month.



In today’s meeting, the premier was expected to take Jamiat Ulema-e Islam – Fazl (JUIF) and Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) into confidence before presenting the reforms bill in parliament – both the parties have opposed several provisions of the package and did not budge from the stance they have taken from the day one.

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) has also urged a referendum for the merger.

Meanwhile,PTI has called a meeting of its parliamentarians on May 17 to deliberate the issue of Fata merger and the recent controversial statement on Mumbai attacks by PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif.

The PM informed the National Assembly on May 2 that Fata reforms will be implemented within three weeks. The announcement, which came as a surprise to opposition parties, was made after a meeting on national security issues.

In the last meeting, the Pakistan Peoples Party and PTI criticised the government for hasty implementation of the reforms approved by parliament about two years ago. The PTI’s Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi then told media that the haste was not an encouraging sign and it seemed the order for reforms implementation had come from somewhere else.