PESHAWAR: Representatives of various civil society organisations and students have rejected the proposed Riwaj Act and urged the federal government to merge the Federally Administered Tribal Areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa without any delay.

They were speaking at a seminar at Peshawar Press Club on Tuesday. The event was jointly organised by Fata Students Organisation and Da Hawa Lor where people from different walks of life, including students, participated. Jamaat-i-Islami Fata leader Zarnoor Afridi, Tribal NGOs Consortium representative Zar Ali Khan, FSO president Shaukat Aziz, Fata Lawyers Forum president Rahim Shah, Da Hawa Lor chairperson Nausheen and others shared their views on the occasion.

The JI leader rejected the government’s decision to implement the Fata reforms in five years and said that Fata should be merged with KP without any delay. The delay in merger, he alleged, was meant to provide opportunity to the officers in Fata Secretariat to continue the loot and plunder of national wealth.

Mr Zarnoor said that the governor’s powers concerning Fata should be transferred to the elected representatives so that they could take decisions according to the people’s aspirations. He said that Fata reforms should be made part of the National Action Plan and implemented on priority.

Mr Aziz criticised political parties for ignoring the merger issue and said that the people could not be dodged through hollow slogans. He also rejected the government’s decision to implement the reforms in five years.

He expressed concern over the slow pace of work on the repair and reconstruction of damaged buildings of hospitals and schools beside roads in the tribal region. He asked the government to ensure early rehabilitation of internally displaced persons with provision of sufficient ration and financial aid so that they could repair their houses.

Other speakers urged the government to give Fata women due representation in different bodies so that they could raise voice for their rights. They said that the tribal people also deserved to have their proper representation in the National Assembly, Senate and provincial assembly.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2017