Achakzai terms FATA merger illegal

BARA:

Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) Chairman and head of the Tehreek-e-Tahaffuz-e-Ayeen-e-Pakistan, Mehmood Khan Achakzai, has said that the merger of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) into Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa was carried out without the consent of the tribal people, calling it an unconstitutional act that ignored historical realities and the will of the locals.

Addressing the oath-taking ceremony of the newly formed FATA Loya Jirga, Achakzai said FATA was the fifth constitutional unit of Pakistan, abolished unlawfully. He stated that according to the Pakistan Independence Act, the tribal areas were never part of the regions listed for inclusion in Pakistan. "In 1946, British officials told tribal elders in Landi Kotal that they were independent, and their freedom had nothing to do with Pakistan," he said, adding that the tribes were told they could choose whether to join Pakistan or remain autonomous.

Achakzai maintained that the merger was imposed without consultation with the tribal people or their elders. "From Waziristan to Bajaur, these areas were historically autonomous, but political decisions stripped them of that freedom," he asserted.