PESHAWAR: Various civil society organisations here on Tuesday expressed concerns over delay in approval of the proposed Fata reforms bill and threatened to agitate if government failed to fulfil its commitment about merger of tribal areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The concerns were shown by Fata Youth Organisation and Fata Youth Jirga during separate press conferences at Peshawar Press Club.

PYO president Shaukat Aziz said that delay in approval of the reforms package caused unrest among tribal people. “We will organise an all-party conference in Peshawar on April 25 regarding the issue,” he said.

Conference on tribal areas to be held on April 25 in Peshawar

He said that Fata reforms had been put in cold storage as the proposed law was not approved from Senate. “We will not allow anyone to keep Fata people into darkness anymore,” said Mr Aziz. He added that the issue would be raised forcefully at all available forums.

He said that FYO had planned to hold an APC on April 25 in Peshawar to decide future line of action and launch a protest campaign against the government for delaying passage of the proposed Fata reforms bill from Senate. He said that tribal people would march on Islamabad and stage a sit-in outside Parliament House on April 30.

Mr Aziz said that for the first time in the country’s history, a serious effort had been made to introduce reforms in Fata. He said that some political elements were trying to hinder the reforms process for their vested interests.

Flanked by FYO leaders Usman, Hajira Afridi, Sahibzada Haleem Orakzai, Haider Amir, Khayal Zaman and Naila Altaf, Mr Aziz said the time had come to give all fundamental rights to tribal people by abolishing Frontier Crimes Regulation.

The PYO chief demanded of the government to address grievances of tribal people regarding census. He also showed concerns over abolishment of National Assembly constituency NA-38 in Kurram Agency. He said that FYO would launch an awareness campaign to mobilise people to support of its demands. Fata Youth Jirga chairman Adnan Shinwari in his separate press conference blamed Pakistan People’s Party for obstructing the Fata reforms bill in Senate.

He said that delay in reforms was unacceptable to them and tribal people would agitate if their demands were not met. He said that tribal people should be given representation in the provincial assembly before the upcoming general elections. Mr Shinwari said that FYJ would launch a protest drive if government failed to accept their demands within one-week. He asked the federal government to announce delimitation for provincial assembly seats in Fata. He sought 60 per cent share for Fata in National Finance Commission (NFC) award.

Published in Dawn, April 11th, 2018