PESHAWAR: Tribal students of various educational institutions here on Friday held a protest demonstration outside the Peshawar Press Club against the delay in merger of Fata with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and urged the federal government to resolve the longstanding issue.

Holding banners and placards inscribed with pro-merger slogans, the protesters also shouted slogans against the federal government and KP governor.

The students were led by Fata Students Federation (FSF) central president Essa Khan Orakzai, its Peshawar University unit chairman Jawad Khan Bajauri, and campus unit president Alam Wazir.

The students demanded Fata-KP merger and abolition of the Frontier Crime Regulation in tribal areas.

They chanted slogans against the federal government for using delaying tactics in implementation of reforms agenda in the tribal region.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Orakzai criticised the federal government for exclusion of Fata reforms from the agenda of cabinet meeting and termed it an attempt to keep the tribal people deprived of their fundamental rights. He vowed that the tribal students would resist any move to halt the process of reforms.

“Fata should be immediately merged with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. We will not accept any delay in this regard,” he said and added that FCR was the mother of all ills in Fata, which should be abolished by introducing true reforms.

He said that some of the political leaders opposed to the mainstreaming of Fata were not sincere with the tribal people and didn’t want development and progress in the region.

The FSF leader said that the Fata-KP merger would lead to elimination of terrorism and militancy in the country.

He said that the tribal people had faced numerous difficulties due to inadequate facilities at their makeshift shelters in settled parts of the province.

He demanded of President Mamnoon Hussain, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and KP Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra to take sincere steps for bringing reforms to mitigate the sufferings of tribal people.

Published in Dawn, February 18th, 2017