LANDI KOTAL: Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Noorul Haq Qadri has said that merger of tribal areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is irreversible and none of the mainstream political parties can afford to demand the repeal of 25th Amendment.

Talking to Dawn, he said that creation of a task force by the federal government was meant to pave the way for smooth implementation of the merger plan. He said that the task force, heading by him, would also hold detailed consultations with all the stakeholders including those, who had opposed the merger.

“Personally I have been telling the anti-merger elements to ‘reform’ their stance and get themselves ready for a wholesale change in the administrative and governance system,” said the minister.

He said that he also advised the pro-administration tribal elders to shun their so-called independent status and align themselves with political parties of their choice.

The minister said that prime minister was keen to expedite the implementation of the merger plan. He said that securing pledged development funds for the tribal districts would not be a problem as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab along with the federal government were ready to provide their share in the NFC award while the prime minister also promised to convince Sindh and Balochistan for provision of funds for the tribal districts 10-year plan of development.

The minister said that both federal and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments were determined to holding local bodies’ elections in the tribal districts as soon as the task of delimitation was completed.

“We have suggested to the authorities concerned to take the tribal affiliations into consideration along with geographic and numeric strength while implementing delimitation for local bodies’ polls,” said the minister.

About the extension of police system to the region and abolishing the Khasadar Force, he said that introduction of police force and new recruitments would be done in the last phase of the merger plan.

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2018