KHAR: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl leaders on Saturday termed the merger of Fata with KP a plot against the people of tribal areas by some elements and reiterated their resolve to continue efforts for making the tribal areas a separate province.

They were speaking at the party workers convention held here at a seminary. MNA Mufti Abdul Shakoor, JU-F tribal districts general secretary Maulana Ijaz Khan, local chapter chief Maulana Abdur Rasheed and others attended the moot. Fata grand alliance deputy chairman Malik Bahadar Shah and chief of Mamond tribe Malik Abdul Aziz also spoke on the occasion.

The JUI-F leaders claimed that Fata-KP merger was not in the interest of tribal people as the province was already in serious financial crisis. They claimed that the people would face many problems once the tribal districts were fully merged with KP. They alleged that after the merger the government would occupy all the natural resources of local people and impose heavy taxes on everything in the areas. They said that the tribal students would also be deprived of the reserved seats in professional educational institutions in different cities after the merger.

The JUI-F leaders said that their party had never supported FCR and raised voice for its replacement with Islamic laws. They rejected the existing Interim Governance Regulation in the tribal areas and termed it ‘the mother of FCR’. The speakers said that JUI-F would continue its efforts to make tribal areas a separate province.

Published in Dawn, November 18th, 2018