PESHAWAR: Khyber Union, an association of various political parties and civil society organisations, of Khyber Agency has rejected a demand of some of tribal elected representatives regarding Fata’s merger into the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and warned that they would not accept any decision taken against the will of tribal people.

Speaking at a press conference at Peshawar Press Club on Wednesday, Khyber Union president Bazar Gul Afridi demanded of the government to form an elected Fata council with special powers of legislation to decide about the fate of its people.

Flanked by other office-bearers, including Gul Zaman and Zarghon Shah, he said that the people of Federally Administered Tribal Areas were not ready to go with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa because its own people had also been facing multiple problems. He said that one of the main reasons of backwardness of KP was its police system. They said that the tribesmen would prefer enforcement of Islamic Sharia to the British law.

“We want restoration of peace on our soil. We want to return to our homes at the earliest and take decisions under the traditional jirga system without interference of anyone,” he said and added that the people wanted to have control on their own natural resources.

Mr Gul said that the Fata members of parliament had no right to take decisions about fate of the tribal people, adding that the public would not accept decisions against their will.

Published in Dawn, September 10th, 2015

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