ISLAMABAD: A special committee of parliament has called for providing facilities such as schools and hospitals and job opportunities to tribal areas.

A meeting of the committee formed ‘to examine purported grievances among some sections of society and reach out to the genuinely aggrieved persons to create national cohesion’ was held in camera at the Parliament House with Senator Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif in the chair.

A statement issued by the Senate Secretariat said that a representative delegation of Waziristan Qaumi Jirga from North and South Waziristan was invited to present their views before the committee.

The delegation comprised Engineer Rehmatullah, Samiullah Dawar, Khalid Ahmed Dawar, Abdul Ghaffar, Abdul Malik, Akbar Ali Khan and Malik Fakhrul Islam.

According to the statement, the delegation members said that the people of Waziristan had played an important role in the creation and sustainability of Pakistan, but they had not received their due share in growth and development. They said the deteriorating living standards had resulted in creation of a sense of deprivation.

“Jirga does not support any activity that is anti-state and calls for efforts to create a harmonious situation in the area where no individual or group stands against state institutions and state narrative,” read the statement, adding that delegation, among other proposals of brin­ging life back to normal and bringing basic necessities of life and work opportunities, proposed extending the jurisdiction of police to the erstwhile Fata in post-merger situation to deal with the law and order situation.

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2019