PESHAWAR: People from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas will set out for Islamabad on Monday (today) to stage a sit-in there to demand early merger of the tribal areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Leaders and workers of major political parties have also announced joining the protest march to be started from Peshawar at 10:00am. Pro-reforms parliamentarians from Fata expect that thousands of people from tribal areas and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would join the rally.

MNA Shah Jee Gul Afridi told Dawn that KP Chief Minister Pervez Khattak was likely to see off the marchers at the Peshawar Motorway’s toll plaza. He said that two ministers of the provincial cabinet would also proceed to Islamabad.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan had also directed his party workers, MNAs and MPAs to take part in the protest. During a press conference in Peshawar on Friday, Imran had demanded Fata-KP merger before the 2018 general elections.

Demand for the merger gained momentum since Aug 2016 when a six-member committee headed by then advisor to the prime minister, Sartaj Aziz, tabled its report before the cabinet that recommended major reforms, including tribal areas merger with KP.

The report generated controversy when two allies of the federal government – JUI-F and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party – opposed the committee report.

“All the major political parties and civil society groups except Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl will join the rally,” said the parliamentarian from Khyber Agency who claimed that over 10,000 people from his home constituency would leave for Islamabad’s D Chowk from Bab-i-Khyber in Jamrud.

He said that the Islamabad administration had issued the NOC for the Dharna (sit-in) at the D Chowk where the protest would continue till acceptance of demands. Pro-reforms groups have been demanding the merger of Fata with KP.

“The protesters will stay at the D Chowk and will not proceed to Red Zone,” Shah Jee Gul said, adding that they would remain peaceful. Civil society groups have displayed banners and posters appealing people to proceed to Islamabad via motorway. He said that relief and humanitarian bodies would provide food, shelter, etc to the protesters.

He said that they had three main demands; amendments to the Constitution to extend the jurisdiction of the superior courts to Fata, representation of tribal people in the KP Assembly and convening of a meeting of the Council of Common Interests on the matter.

People from other tribal agencies, including Khyber, Bajaur, Mohmand and Frontier Regions of Kohat and Peshawar, will also come to the toll plaza to join the main rally.

Awami National Party central general secretary Mian Iftikhar Hussain, Pakistan Peoples Party provincial president Hamayun Khan, Jamaat-i-Islami provincial chief Mushtaq Ahmad Khan and leaders of Qaumi Watan Party would also join the rally.

Organisers said that people from Kurram, North Waziristan, South Waziristan, Orakzai and other FRs will also proceed to the federal capital via Kohat and join Dharna at the D Chowk. According to reports, announcements were made in all the tribal agencies appealing the people to go to Islamabad. ANP has directed its workers to reach the toll plaza on Monday morning.

In Khar, major political parties on Sunday finalised arrangements for taking thousands of activists from Bajaur Agency to the planned sit-in in Islamabad to record their protest over the delay in implementation of Fata reforms.

Senior leader of PML-N local chapter Nizamuddin Khan, who is elder son of MNA Shahabuddin Khan, told Dawn on Sunday evening that a large number of party workers would participate in the sit-in. He said that the PML-N workers and local people were enthusiastic to participate in the protest outside the Parliament House to demand immediate implementation of Fata reforms and merger of tribal areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2017