PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister (CM) Pervez Khattak said on Tuesday that his government has accepted the reforms of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) Commission.
He said this while talking to a tribal council of All FATA Political Alliance at the CM House Peshawar. Tribal chieftains and political elites of all tribal agencies, led by its president Sardar Khan, were also present on the occasion. KP Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser also attended the tribal council meeting.
Speaking on the occasion, CM Khattak said that after accepting the reforms recommended by the commission, the merger of FATA into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was inevitable, and could be carried out with a presidential order.
He said that the provincial government could extend policing and other social services to the tribal areas, adding that the federal government had earlier agreed to the plan and made necessary preparations, including, extension of Peshawar High Court bench to the tribal areas in place of Islamabad High Court. Khattak said that the unwillingness of one politician had obstructed the whole process of FATA reforms implementation.
The tribal elders thanked the chief minister for his constant support to the merger of FATA into KP. They apprised Khattak regarding the miseries, hardships and tribulations faced by the people living in the tribal areas. They also informed about the lack of necessary social services, including education and healthcare, despite the sacrifices made by people of the tribal areas for the stability and integrity of the country.
On this, the chief minister called upon the tribal elders to stay united on the one-point agenda in connection with merger of FATA into KP. The process should be speeded up, otherwise, the interest groups could spoil the whole process which would incur heavy losses on the entire merger initiative, he added.
Pervez Khattak eulogised the sacrifices of FATA residents and regretted that the federal government was delaying the merger through different tactics. He said the federal government wanted to retain its political muscle by keeping the tribal areas under the governor, thus obstructing the flow of resources to the tribal areas. The attitude of the central government in this connection is more severe than the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR), he added.
Khattak criticised the amendment made to the Constitution that paved the way for a disqualified prime minister to retain presidentship of his party by using the whole parliament as a rubber stamp. Regrettably, the same government did not show sincerity and disregarded all legal and constitutional aspects to allow merger of the tribal areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, he added.
He urged the tribal leaders to stay united in order to secure basic rights. He said the federal government had no logical objection to the merger. He further said that the only thing that worried the federal government was providing the fixed sum of Rs 100 billion package to FATA every year, adding that the federal government did not want to part ways with such large amount of money, which was endangering national unity.
CM Khattak further said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) provincial government was fully supportive of the demands made by people of the tribal areas for merger of FATA into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The PTI government also supported the demands of the tribal population, including abrogation of FCR, provision of basic rights, 10-year developmental package and proper representation in the provincial assembly, he added.
The chief minister wondered as to why the federal government had failed to implement the recommendations of its own parliamentary committee in connection with FATA’s merger with KP province.