Reforms: FATA parliamentarians reject draft empowering governor

Say govt servant cannot be made head of agency council

KHAR: Parliamentarians from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas have rejected the draft presented by the FATA Reforms Commission about the proposed management of agency and Fata councils. The draft says the political agent will be made the chairman of the agency council while the governor will be made the head of the Fata Council. 

Speaking to journalists in Khar in Bajaur Agency on Sunday, Senator Hidayatullah Khan said the council cannot be headed by a government servant and should be elected from among the parliamentarians.

The draft had also stated that some of the members of the council will also be selected by the governor and the political agent. Hidayatullah added if the governor or political agent will be made the head of the councils and rights of tribal people are violated, then parliamentarians will raise a voice outside the Parliament.

Hidayatullah demanded a local government system for Fata, “along the lines of the one which will be in place in the rest of the country”. He said local government members in the region should be elected through direct franchise instead of being nominated by the government.

He maintained the people of Fata are being deprived of their basic rights by being kept away from the process of election and nomination in the region.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 11^th, 2015.