JI set to launch tribal rights campaign

First rally of drive will kick off in Bajaur on March 15

PESHAWAR:

Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) has announced a campaign for the rights of the tribal districts in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).

A peace caravan will be brought out in Bajaur tribal district in this regard on March 15 and it will end in Waziristan on March 19.

JI Central Amir Sirajul Haq, JI K-P Amir Professor Muhammad Ibrahim, Senator Muashtaq Ahmad Khan, Niab Amir JI K-P Inayatullah Khan and other leaders will participate in the campaign and address the rallies.

In this regard a meeting was held at Markaz-e-Islami Peshawar presided over by acting provincial amir Abdul Wasay. The meeting was also attended by Tehreek-e-Haqooqe Qabail (Tribal Rights Movements) President Shah Faisal Afridi, JI Khyber Amir Muhammad Rafiq Afridi, Awal Gul Afridi, and Naveed Khan Mohmand.

The meeting reviewed in depth the arrangements for the campaign and rallies. Talking on the occasion Abdul Wasay said that the tribal districts are really backward areas of the country and these areas should developed to bring them at par with the rest of the country.

“It is unfortunate that the federal government is reluctant to implement the recommendations of the Sartaj Aziz Committee on one or other pretext,” said Abdul Wasay, adding that annually Rs100 billion should be given for the next 10 years as promised.

“We demand that the tribal youth should be given interest-free loans to fight unemployment and these tribesmen should be treated like equal citizen of the country,” he said.

“We also demand that those tribesmen whose houses were demolished should be compensated properly,” he observed, adding that schools, colleges and universities should be established in each tribal district and special attention should be paid to the rehabilitation of infrastructure.

Tribesmen has a right to have access to quality health facilities like the rest of the country but it is really sad to know that in these 20,000 square miles there is no medical college or a large and well equipped hospital, he maintained, adding that the tribal youth should also be given full access to education and scholarships announced to support them.

JI amir also demanded opening all trade routes with neighbouring Afghanistan and said that the old tried and time tested tribal Jirga system should be reinstated.

“The people of the tribal districts would not be left alone by any means,” he said, adding that every effort would be made to put the triabl areas on the tract to development.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 25^th, 2023.