KHAR: The Jamaat-i-Islami on Thursday resented delay in the Fata-Khyber Pakhtunkhwa merger reforms and threatened to begin street protests across the tribal districts against it.
Accompanied by party leaders, JI tribal district head Sardar Khan told reporters here that the people of tribal districts in general and his party activists in particular was very concerned about the unnecessary delay in the Fata-KP merger reforms.
He said most provision of the Fata Act hadn’t been enforced despite the passage of several months.
Mr Sardar said the government was bound by the law to provide the residents of erstwhile Fata with fundamental rights but the region hadn’t seen any improvement in administrative and judicial systems. He said the abolition of Frontier Crimes Regulation in the erstwhile Fata was a historic decision but it had created a vacuum in the region as there existed no law and regulation to resolve cases.
Mr Sardar called the Interim Governance Regulation enforced in tribal districts ‘tougher and more rigid’ than FCR and said the regulation had made the life of residents more miserable.
He called for the extension of the country’s judicial system to tribal districts.
The other JI leaders slammed the PTI government for slowing down the Fata-KP reforms and said Prime Minister Imran Khan had failed to keep the promise of taking tangible steps for the welfare of people of tribal districts.
They demanded that the tribal districts be given three percent share in NFC Award, judicial system, representation in the KP Assembly and local government system.
The JI leaders said vested interests were trying to sabotage the Fata- KP merger but the people of tribal districts won’t let them succeed. They also rejected the federal government’s task force on Fata saying most members of the body worked against Fata-KP merger in the past.
The JI leaders also complained about the possible restoration of permit system in tribal districts and said the move would be a great injustice to the people.
Published in Dawn, October 26th, 2018
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