FATA lawmakers boycott PM’s dinner reception

Lawmakers say they are hopeful PM, president will resolve their issues.

ISLAMABAD:

Parliamentarians from Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) boycotted the dinner reception and a meeting of the ruling coalition on Tuesday at the Prime Minister House in hopes of pressing their demand for the release of more funds.

The Fata group, led by their parliamentary leader Munir Khan Orakzai, is part of the ruling coalition with a federal minister in Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani’s cabinet.

Prime Minister Gilani invited the parliamentarians belonging to groups and parties allied to ruling Pakistan Peoples Party for a dinner reception to chalk out a strategy for the ongoing budget session.

Jawad Hussain a Fata member told The Express Tribune that their group did not attend the meeting to register their protest with the prime minister for not releasing Rs6 billion out of the Rs15 billion development fund promised for Fata last year.

Jawad said the government had promised Fata members a release of Rs15 billion for their development schemes for the outgoing year, however, Rs9 billion have been released so far.

He said the fate of many development schemes given by Fata members will hang in the balance if the government did not release the remaining amount during the outgoing financial year ending June 30.

Fata members say that initially they were promised Rs18 billion for development schemes, but later, an approval for Rs15 billion was given and now the government was backing out from the promised amount since the importance of Fata members has declined for it after it found new allies in Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) and Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM).

Fata parliamentarians said that they were hopeful that the prime minister and the president would once again intervene and resolve their issue.



Published in The Express Tribune, June 8th, 2011.