KHAR: Hundreds of workers of different political parties from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas on Monday left for Islamabad to participate in a Fata rights rally and sit-in being staged outside the parliament house to seek political parties’ support in passage of the 22nd constitutional amendment bill submitted by the tribal lawmakers in the National Assembly to merge Fata into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

In Khar, a convoy of around 600 vehicles carrying at least 4,000 tribal people left Turgondi area here for Islamabad early on Monday. Later in the day the rally reached Rashakai interchange on the motorway near Mardan to join the main rally.

Senior leaders of All Bajaur Political Parties Alliance, an umbrella organisation of all political parties in the agency, led the rally.

Talking to reporters before leaving for Islamabad, the alliance president Aurang Zeb said the Fata rights rally would play vital role to attract attention of government and lawmakers towards the basic needs of the people of tribal areas.

He expressed the hope that the Fata rights rally would achieve its goal by convincing the legislators to support the 22nd constitutional amendment bill in the parliament.

LANDI KOTAL: Hundreds of activists of various political parties left from Bab-i-Khyber in Jamrud on Monday in a vehicular procession to participate in the ‘Haquq-i-Qabayal’ rally in Islamabad.

Mainstream political parties, including ANP, PPP, JI, PTI and QWP, had provided free transport and arranged for meals for their parties’ activists who had started gathering at the historic Bab-i-Khyber early on Monday morning.

Holding party flags and banners inscribed with slogans ‘Go FCR Go’, the participants of the procession left Jamrud at around 9am amid high pitched slogans. 

The organisers had made arrangements to converge all the processions from different tribal regions at the Peshawar toll plaza on the Peshawar-Islamabad motorway. Students, teachers, lawyers and a handful of pro-reforms tribal elders were also among the participants.

PARACHINAR: A large number of tribal people from Kurram Agency led by PPP local general secretary Ishrat Bangash left for Islamabad to participate in the Fata rights rally.

GHALANAI: The activists and local leaders of various political parties left Mohmand Agency to participate in the Islamabad rally being staged outside the parliament house.

Hundreds of workers and local leaders of PPP, JI, PTI, ANP, JUI and other political parties in separate caravans left for the federal capital.

Published in Dawn, November 17th, 2015