TAXILA: Member National Assembly (MNA) Sajid Hussain Turi on Tuesday called upon the PTI government to bring the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) into the mainstream at a fast pace so that problems being faced by people of the area could be addressed.

Mr Turi, who belongs to the Kurram tribal region, told reporters here that the Annual Development Plan (ADP) for Fata was Rs20 billion but not a single penny had been released since May 2018.

He said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government failed to release the remaining two quarters of the ADP for the fiscal year 2018-19 for the seven newly-merged tribal districts, creating hurdles in completing ongoing projects in the area.

The MNA said there was a need for the release of around Rs100 billion from the National Finance Commission (NFC) award and creation of 20,000 jobs for Fata. He said the new local government system designed and introduced by the government was unfeasible.

Mr Turi said though Fata had been merged into KP, reforms in the local government were going on at a snail’s pace.

He stressed the need for holding the local government elections in Fata. The replacement of Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) with the new “Tribal Areas Rewaj Act” and political and judicial reforms would help provide speedy justice to litigants of the area.

He said the performance of the PTI government was extremely poor. The government failed to handle the economy while its cabinet ministers are active only in pointing fingers at opposition politicians.

People have been suffering due to inflation and price hike. “They have now realised that the PTI- led government would only add to the miseries of the poor.”

He said the PPP would launch a mass contact campaign in KP soon and hold the first workers’ convention in Lakki Marwat on Feb 25 and in Lower Dir on Feb 28.

He also criticised the PTI government for not inviting opposition parties to the reception hosted in honour of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman during his visit to Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2019