ISLAMABAD: Minister for States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) Abdul Qadir Baloch Wednesday informed the Senate that a summary had been forwarded to the president for abolishing Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).
Responding to a calling attention notice raised by Syed Shibli Faraz of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), he said those talking about the merger of FATA with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) owed a reply as to why they had not raised the matter while they themselves were in government. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) would not allow anyone to take credit for the historical step being taken during its tenure, he added.
He said there was consensus on the implementation of 25 recommendations (of the FATA reforms committee), and there was a difference on only extending the jurisdiction of Supreme Court and Peshawar High Court to FATA.
The minister said the issue had been thoroughly discussed in a meeting called by the federal government, which was attended by KP chief minister and chief secretary, and other stakeholders.
He said the issue regarding the extension of apex court’s jurisdiction to FATA would be taken up in the National Assembly on Thursday and it would hopefully be resolved.
Abdul Qadir Baloch said several other measures were being taken to improve the situation in FATA and Rs 100 billion would be allocated for the area every year.
The minister rejected the impression that the issue was being dragged. All the political parties were supporting it and “we will convince our allies and it will be another feather in our cap,” he added
Syed Shibli Faraz, through his calling attention notice, had drawn the attention of house towards delay in legislation about the merger of FATA with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.