ISLAMABAD: For the first time the parliamentarians of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) have decided to field their candidate for the slot of speaker of the National Assembly.

Almost all the eleven MNAs of Fata belonging to three different parties and independent members have decided to back Syed Ghazi Ghulab Jamal (GG Jamal) as their candidate for the election of Speaker NA.

“I am contesting the election for this post with the backing of all my friends and colleagues in the assembly,” he told Dawn.

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“The main reason that we believe speaker should be from Fata is that it is the only independent constituency of the country.”

He said that even the constitution highlights that speaker of the assembly has to be independent and not be following any party lines.

“Not only that I am an independent MNA but we the people of Fata are the only elected representatives who represent federation without any link with any province,” GG Jamal said.

Fata has eleven NA constituencies from NA -36 to NA-47, while three of them belong to the PML-N, one PTI, one JUI-F and six are independent MNA.

However, responding to the query that he would have the support of only eleven MNAs in the election, Mr Jamal said that their group has a strong backing of MNAs belonging to many parties, including the mainstream parties.

Meanwhile, another MNA from Fata said that they wanted to highlight the woes and troubles faced by people of Fata.

“The whole nation should have considerations for the region, but the general impression is that MNAs of Fata come to the assembly to sit and support the ruling party only.”

Incidentally, none of the senior leaders of the ruling PML-N have approached the Fata parliamentarians for a rapprochement in this regard.

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2015

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