Plan for nominated Fata council rejected: Parties demand elected bodies
By Bureau Report
PESHAWAR, July 28: Representatives of various political parties and organizations on Wednesday rejected a nominated council for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and urged the government to hold elections for the council.
Speaking to protesters at a camp outside the Peshawar Press Club, they said the Fata secretariat had failed to do anything for the socio-economic development of the region and therefore, the federal government should dissolve it.
Imran Afridi of the Awami National Party, Afrasiab Afridi of Jamaat-i-Islami, Mariam Bibi of Khwando Kohr, Nasir Mohmand of the Tribal Union of Journalists, Bazar Gul Afridi of the Khyber Union, Asad Afridi of the Tribal Reforms Development Forum, and others spoke on the occasion.
They said the government had been selling the tribesmen to get dollars from donors who, they added, were engaged in Afghanistan to install a pro-western government there.
Mr Afrasiab Afridi, who has been nominated by the governor for the council, said he would not accept the council membership. He said a nominated council was not a solution to the issues facing the tribesmen.
He demanded that the Political Parties Act should be extended to Fata and people should be allowed to take part in political activities. Other speakers urged the government to hold local bodies elections in Fata and remove the NWFP governor forth with for the betterment of the area.
"We already have a nominated council of Maliks, who have been a mouthpiece of every government since 1947," they pointed out. The protesters wondered why they did not have MPAs to represent them in the provincial assembly despite the fact that they had MNAs and senators who spoke for them in the federal legislature.
They emphasized the need for a 'complete overhauling' of the Frontier Crime Regulations, devised by the then British government to subjugate the tribesmen. They asked the government to give tribesmen a right of appeal in the superior courts to challenge the decisions made by the political agents.
They said the tribesmen wanted a structural change in Fata which should pave the way for social development of the area. Otherwise, they warned, they would not tolerate the present 'tyranny' any more.
