THE government has taken a bold step regarding the merger of Federally Administrated Tribal Areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The Fata reforms committee did a painstaking job on the FataReforms Bill and got it approved by the cabinet. The sad part is that certain quarters are against the merger of Fata with KP.

They are trying to push the case of Fata onto the back burner for their petty interests. There are other quarters that think that Fata should be made a separate province.

They are of the view that the already resources starved KP will not be able to meet Fata’s expenditure.

Whatever the case, it is time the government brought meaningful changes in Fata while ignoring the vested few.

In my opinion, Fata’s merger with KP is the only viable solution which will successfully bring it into the mainstream.

Abdullah Wazir Bannu,

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2017