PESHAWAR: The employees of various government departments belonging to Khyber tribal district on Wednesday asked for an end to the traditional jirga system in the newly-merged districts and stressed the need for immediate extension of judiciary to the erstwhile Fata.

Speaking at a news conference at the Peshawar Press Club, Yousuf Ali Khan said Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leadership had always promised to pay full attention towards the development of the merged areas in order to bring them on a par with the developed areas, but it seemed least interested to fulfill its commitment when it came into power.

Flanked by other tribesmen, including Gulab Khan, Malik Zada, Ihsanullah Khan, he demanded of the government to approve proper service structure for the employees of various departments to ensure their timely promotion, provision of different allowances, incentives on pattern of other districts in order to remove the prevailing unrest among them.

Mr Ali suggested that the government bring an end to the jirga system as it could not do justice, saying the time was ripe to establish courts of law to provide justice to people.

He said availability of easy justice was a long-awaited demand of the people as the black laws of FCR had made lives of people miserable.

Referring to a demand raised by some people in support of the jirga mechanism, he said majority of people were demanding courts in the region. He said the government should constitute a committee to conduct a survey to know as to how many people were in support of the jirga.

Mr Ali also demanded special allowance for government employees from grade-1 to 16, saying the government should take drastic steps for eradication of corruption and narcotics from the country to strengthen national economy and secure the young generation.

The other tribesmen also asked for release of sufficient funds for development schemes in the merged districts and said only media statements regarding allocation of funds was not enough.

They also asked for rehabilitation of the dislocated families and reconstruction of the damaged buildings of locals and different government departments.

Published in Dawn, February 14th, 2019