ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has summoned an important meeting of the parliamentary leaders of all political parties to reach consensus on the constituencies’ delimitation bill and address opposition’s concerns over delays to the introduction of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) reforms bill.
According to a report published in a leading English daily, during the meeting, which is to be held on Friday, the PM would assure the opposition parties that the government is “serious” in the legislation on FATA and that the related bill was not introduced on Monday due to “technical” hitches.
A PML-N legislator has said that the government has already decided to dismiss Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Mehmood Khan Achakzai’s reservations to FATA reforms. Fazl’s JUI-F and Achakzai’s PkMAP are the government allies which oppose the immediate merger of tribal areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
The government came under fire from political and public circles after it apparently backtracked on legislation for Fata reforms and did not introduce a related bill in the National Assembly on Monday
The PM’s scheduled meeting with parliamentary leaders also aims at bringing in the loop the major political parties – the PPP and the PTI in particular – to carry out legislation on delimitation of constituencies which is a must to avoid any delay in the general election.
