CHARSADDA: After the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), the Awami National Party (ANP) has also demanded that elections in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) be held simultaneously with provincial assembly’s elections. This was announced by ANP chief Asfandyar Wali Khan while addressing a Fata youth jirga on Sunday.

Mr Khan welcomed the Fata merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and said that it was the dream of Bacha Khan and Abdul Wali Khan. He said that the merger was a good omen for the unity of the Pakhtun nation.

“Protection of 18th Amend­ment is the prime responsibility of all of us,” he said, adding that changing the name of the province, provincial autonomy and Fata merger were their forefathers’ dreams and “we will protect them at all costs”.

He praised the role of Fata’s youth in the merger of tribal areas with KP. He said that such joint efforts would be made to solve problems of the Pakhtuns in the future. He added that some elements with vested interest were still creating hurdles in the merger’s process.

About opposition to the Fata merger, the ANP chief said that he was surprised at Mehmood Khan Achakzai’s stance because the latter’s late father had raised the slogan for a Pakhtun unit from Bolan to Chitral.

Regarding the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, Mr Khan said that the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl and Jamaat-i-Islami were still standing apart on the Fata merger issue.

ANP general secretary Mian Iftikhar, Sardar Hussain Babak, Nisar Baz and others also addressed the youth jirga.

Published in Dawn, June 4th, 2018