Tribes in ex-FATA reject patwari, police systems

Demand revisit of the plan of merger with K-P

PESHAWAR: A grand jirga of tribes from the erstwhile federally administered tribal areas (Fata) has categorically rejected the extension of police to the tribal districts apart from the imposition of the ‘patwari’ land management system.

Instead, they demanded the through rehabilitation of internally displaced residents of tribal districts.

This was decided by the “All Fata grand Jirga” (AFJ) at in Bagh-e-Naran in Peshawar on Thursday.

The AFJ comprised tribal notables, Maliks and elders from the seven newly formed tribal districts.

Former federal minister Malik Waris Afridi said that the residents of the tribal districts had never accepted the merger of the seven agencies with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).

He further said that while the Constitution has yet to be fully extended to the tribal districts, the police and patwari systems have been introduced which was not acceptable to them.

“The merger process of the seven districts of Fata has been done in haste, no resident or notable was a part of the merger plan,” Afridi said, adding that no referendum had been conducted to learn the opinion of locals.

“We do not accept it (merger), rather we reject it,” he added.
Brigadier (retired) Said Nazir from Mohmand claimed that the chief justice and K-P governor had termed the merger as rushed. He urged the competent authority to revisit the decision regarding the merger in light of constitutional provisions.



Former commissioner Jan Muhammad Dawar lamented that while the federal government is quick to discuss various issues faced by the masses in main centres of the country, it never sat at the negotiation table to solve issues faced by residents of the tribal areas.

We will never accept the offer of negotiation with the K-P chief minister, rather we want to talk with the K-P governor who is aware of the real constitutional needs of the tribal areas and the merger process.

Dawar added that they will soon meet with Prime Minister Imran Khan and raise the problems they were facing.

The jirga was also addressed by Malik Khan Merjan of Waziristan, Malik Israrullah Kuki Khel, Malik Qadar Manan Mohmand, Malik Jan Bhadur Shah Bajuri and Malik Fayyaz.