Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Iqbal Zafar Jhagra has said that all stakeholders were consulted before finalising the reforms for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA)
He expressed these views while addressing media persons and party workers during a function organized by PML-N Media Coordinator Muhammad Mehdi here on Sunday. He also said that Afghan refugee elders have suggested that the Pakistani government grant citizenships to Afghan refugees who have stayed in Pakistan for more than three decades.
Regarding the FATA reforms, Jhagra said that maliks, tribal elders, youth, political parties, parliamentarians from the tribal agencies, and media representatives were all duly consulted in separate meetings by the Sartaj Aziz-led special committee before the submission of the report to the prime minister.
All the stakeholders were given four options: making FATA an independent province, merging the area into KP, a Gilgit-Baltistan style status, or maintaining the status quo, he said.
The majority, he said, were in favour of FATA’s merger with KP with the condition that the nefarious FCR should be changed while but the tradition of jirgas.
Responding to a question, the governor said that Maulana Fazlur Rehman had demanded a referendum to decide the fate of FATA but the JUI-F chief was told that it could open a Pandora’s box as such demands have also been raised by Hazara, south Punjab, and Sindh.
Jhagra further said that the border management system was introduced after certain elements against Pakistan-Afghanistan relations had created a tense situation on the Torkham border by killing two Rangers personnel there. The system, he said, had helped a lot in checking cross-border movement of the terrorists.
“Elders of the Afghan refugees have suggested that as they have been living in the country for more than three decades and have developed relationships through inter-marriages with the locals, they could be granted citizenship like in Europe where a resident may get the status after living there for five years.”
Tribal elders say that citizenship should be considered for at least those refugees against whom the government had no complaints, for grant of citizenship rights, the governor added. He said that they also requested for a grace period so that they could wind up their businesses in Pakistan.
Governor Jhagra claimed that all reservations of the PTI-led KP government regarding the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor stood resolved and that the chief minister was now attending all meetings regarding the mega project.