‘The year of fata’: Jirga demands abolition of FCR

K-P is incomplete without Fata, its areas should be merged as provincially administered tribal areas, says KP senator.

PESHAWAR: A jirga of tribal leaders from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Frontier Region demanded the abolition of the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) laws. On Sunday the jirga, held at the Nishter Hall in Peshawar, discussed the political situation in the tribal areas after the extension of the Political Parties Act to Fata, and asked for more representation in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) assembly. Speaking on the occasion, Senator Afrasiab Khattak declared the year 2012 as ‘the year of Fata’. The war in the tribal belt had nothing to do with the people of Fata, he said, adding: “It is because of the policies of Ziaul Haq that the people of Fata are suffering today.” He added that K-P was incomplete without Fata and the areas should be merged as provincially administered tribal areas.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 2^nd,  2012.