NOWSHERA: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Sami chief Maulana Samiul Haq on Saturday announced that the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal would be revived only if the religious parties, including JUI-F, supported the merger of Fata with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He was speaking to the members of the Tribal Youth Jirga, who called on him at the Darul Uloom-i-Haqqania in Akora Khattak here to discuss the issue of Fata-KP merger.

The delegation comprised youth leaders from the PPP, ANP, PTI, Jamaat-i-Islami, Qaumi Watan Party and other parties’ Fata chapters.

JUI-S chief says he doesn’t understand Fazl’s logic behind merger opposition

The JUI-S chief said he didn’t confront JUI-F leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman but didn’t understand his logic behind opposition to the merger of tribal areas with KP.

“I don’t know why Maulana Fazlur Rehman is opposed to the merger of Fata with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” he said.

Mr Sami said the JUI-F chief had never favoured bids to form alliance of religious parties.

He said ironically, Mr Fazl opposed the Shariat Bill in parliament though it was tabled by his teachers and even he made fun of it by declaring it shararat (mischief) bill.

“Maulana Fazlur Rehman studied at Darul Uloom-i-Haqqania for seven years but we don’t understand his aims and objectives,” he said.

The JUI-S chief said he didn’t agree to the opinion that the Frontier Crimes Regulation was close to Islamic teachings, and rather declared it a system of brutalities.

“Tribal people are fighting a war for rights.

It is ironic that they’ve not been treated like other Pakistanis since the country’s creation,” he said.

Mr Sami said Fata was created by the British rulers to serve own interests and that it was currently ruled by a few Maliks and political agents.

He said the federal government had mocked the Fata people by doling out a meagre three percent share in the National Finance Commission Award for the region’s development.

The JUI-S chief said students had played an important in the Chinese and French revolutions but ironically, Pakhtun students (Taliban) were considered terrorists though they fought against aggressors in Afghanistan.

He said he and his party would continue to support the tribal students’ movement for the cause of Fata, especially the region’s merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Mr Sami invited jirga members to his party’s public meeting in Peshawar on Dec 7.

Earlier, JUI-S provincial chief Maulana Yousaf Shah said his party had made efforts for the restoration of peace in tribal areas as the war against terrorism killed innocent people.

The visitors, including Arshad Afridi, Nisar Baz, Shaukat Aziz, Waseem Haider, Siraj Safi, Akhtar Gul, Adnan Khan, Mohammad Saleem, Shah Jehan and Umair Wazir, criticised the JUI-F and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party for opposing the Fata-KP merger.

They said the JUI-S shouldn’t become part of the MMA if all its member religious parties didn’t support the Fata-KP merger.

Published in Dawn, November 19th, 2017