PESHAWAR: Jamaat-i-Islami has demanded merger of Fata with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa before the 2018 general elections and representation of the tribal people in the provincial assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Speaking at a press conference here on Sunday, JI provincial chief Mushtaq Ahmad Khan rejected the proposed Rewaj Act, which he believed, was a new shape of the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR).

He said the Fata Political Alliance and tribal people wanted merger of tribal area with KP in the light of the 22nd constitutional amendment and that the federal government should announce economic package for the area to address deprivation of the local people.

The JI leader said issue of Fata was very important and without resolving this crucial issue stability could not be established in the country and the region. He said people of Fata had rendered sacrifices for Pakistan but successive governments ignored them.

Except JUI-F, other mainstream political parties are supporting integration of Fata into the province. JUI-F wants to make Fata as fifth federating unit of the country. The ruling Pakistan PTI also supports merger of Fata with the province before the next general elections.

A high-level committee headed by Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz has finalised its report about mainstreaming of Fata and proposed merger of the area with the province.

Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2016