KHAR: Jamaat-i-Islami Fata chief Haji Sardar Khan on Thursday announced that thousands of party workers would participate in the sit-in outside the Governor’s House in Peshawar on Feb 26 to protest the delay in implementation of the proposed reforms in tribal areas.

He said this while addressing a press conference at Bajaur Press Club on Thursday. He said that JI workers from across the tribal areas would participate in the sit-in. He said that all arrangements in this regard had been finalised to ensure maximum attendance in the protest.

Flanked by JI Fata deputy chief Abdul Hameed and local chapter chief Qari Abdul Majeed, he said that the sit-in outside the Governor’s House would continue till Feb 28. He said that they would force the government to announce a plan for early implementation of the reforms package in tribal areas.

He said that JI chief Sirajul Haq and provincial head Mushtaq Ahmed Khan would also address participants of the protest gathering.

Siraj also to address the gathering for Fata reforms

Sardar Khan said that replacing the Frontier Crimes Regulation with country’s regular laws was essential to the socio-economic development of tribal areas.

Answering a question, the JI leader said that they had requested workers of different political and religious parties to participate in the sit-in protest.

The JI leaders vowed that they would continue efforts till implementation of reforms and merger of the Fata in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. They also showed concern over the crackdown on the residents of Bajaur Agency in different areas of Punjab following the Feb13 suicide blast in Lahore.

They claimed that many people belonging to different areas of the agency had been arrested in Punjab. They also criticised the Punjab chief minister for presenting the suspected facilitator of the suicide attack before media.

PASHTO AS COMPULSORY SUBJECT: Speakers at a conference here on Thursday demanded of the government to declare Pashto as a compulsory subject up to intermediate level in the government schools and colleges across the tribal areas.

The conference was organised by Bajaur Pashto Adabi Karwan, a literary association, at the Bajaur Press Club.

Local writers and poets attended the event. Among the speakers were Bajaur Pashto Adabi Karwan president Abdul Ghafar, poet and writer Anwar Nigar, Javid Saqib and Ashna Bajauri.

Highlighting the importance of mother language in socio-economic development, the speakers said that promotion of mother language was necessary to overcome the hurdles in the way of getting higher education.

They demanded of the government to declare Pashto as a medium of learning in schools at primary level and include it as compulsory subject in the curriculum of classes up to intermediate level.

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2017