BAJAUR, Sept 18: Tribal elders and Maliks of Bajaur Agency have decided to launch a movement against the government’s reforms plan for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and the holding of local government elections there.

The decision was announced at a public meeting held in Khaar, the  agency  headquarters on Wednesday,  to  protest  the government’s reforms programme for the tribal areas.

The meeting was attended by a large number of tribal people hailing from all shades of life.

The meeting was addressed by the chairman of Save the Tribal System Movement, Mian Shah Jehan, tribal chieftains Malik Ayaz, Malik Sultanzeb, Malik Taj, former parliamentarians Haji Bismillah Khan, Haji Abdul Qayyum and Haji Lal Karim.

The speakers rejected the reforms agenda and the holding of local bodies elections in the tribal areas, terming the exercise an effort by the government to “turn the tribal areas into a police state”.

The meeting also decided to launch a civil disobedience movement if the government did not abandon the reforms and the local bodies polls.