FATA’s fate lies with its people, not ‘opportunists’: Fazl

PESHAWAR: Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Fazlur Rahman on Sunday said the people of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) must have the right to take a decision about their future instead of some “opportunists”.

Addressing a Namoos-e-Rasalat conference in Peshawar, he said the people of FATA, being the main stakeholder, should have a say in the merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa or a separate province; however, they were being deprived of this right.

Fazl said the jurisdiction of Pakistani courts could not be extended to FATA due to imposition of the Frontier Crime Regulation (FCR) and Article 247 of the Constitution, which would remain in force for five years if the tribal region was merged with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Diverting attention from the issue, the JUI-F chief— one of the resisters of FATA reforms bill—accused Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) of creating hurdles in removing the changes made in the Khatam-i-Nabuwat (SAW) clause. The two parties, he alleged, had rather opposed to mending the amendments in the law.

Commenting on the Muttahida Majlis Amal (MMA), he said the alliance had again been restored. The religious parties had faced both internal and external challenges in 2002 under the banner of that alliance and would continue to do so in future also, he added.

Blaming the “secular people” for distorting the culture of the country, Fazl said the vacuum left MMA’s dissolution will be filled again and these “enlightened” people won’t be able to have a say in the country’s affairs.

Adding one more to his list of slanders against the PTI, he alleged that the western forces had supported a certain party to change the country’s culture. The party, which was in government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, had tried to bribe religious scholars offering them salaries without knowing the fact that they were not saleable commodities, he alleged, adding that the JUI-F will rid the province of PTI.

Fazl also called for a high-level judicial inquiry into the Peshawar Army Public School attack.

He said after the 9/11 incident religion was being considered a threat, with religious seminaries havens for terrorists, and there was a need to correct that perception.

Federal Minister for Housing, Akram Khan Durrani, party provincial leaders and a large number of party workers were present on the occasion.