NA likely to pass 26th Amendment Bill today

If the bill passes, the tribal district's representation at NA and K-p Assembly will increase

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly is likely to pass the 26th Constitutional Amendment Bill, seeking an increase in the number of seats for the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) in the National Assembly and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly today (Monday).

In Friday’s session, a consensus was reached between the government and the opposition on passing the bill crucial to giving long-awaited rights to the people of ex-Fata.

To pass the bill a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly is required. Introduced by lawmaker Mohsin Dawar on Thursday, the bill had failed to sail through the lower house of parliament when the opposition refused to vote without having a thorough debate on it.



With the passage of the bill, ex-Fata districts would have nine seats in the National Assembly which were reduced to six after the merger of Fata into Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, while their share in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa assembly would stand at 20 with an increase of four seats.

On Friday, while speaking on the floor of the house, Defence Minister Pervez Khattak the government wanted to end a sense of deprivation prevailing among the people of erstwhile Fata by providing them basic facilities of health, education, banks and courts.

He said some Rs100 billion would be spent on erstwhile Fata each year for 10 years. “Of Rs100 billion, a sum of Rs30 billion will be given to the elected representatives under local government system so that they could spend funds at village level.”