—JUI-F members plan to surround KP Assembly on Sunday to protest passage of bill
—KP’s seats in NA would increase to 147 after merger
PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) assembly has summoned a session at 2pm on Sunday (May 27) to mull over the merger of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) with the province.
The FATA-KP merger bill was passed unanimously in the National Assembly (NA) and Senate on Thursday and Friday, respectively.
During the Senate session on Friday, around 71 lawmakers voted in favour of nine clauses of the constitutional amendment bill, while five were against them. Besides, around 28 lawmakers were absent from the House during the session.
The bill, titled ‘31st Constitutional Amendment Act, 2018’ was presented by Minister for Law and Justice Chaudhry Mahmood Bashir Virk, while the Senate session was headed by Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani.
After the approval from the Senate, President Mamnoon Hussain would sign the bill, thus turning it into a law.
Earlier on Thursday, the National Assembly passed the landmark bill with over two-thirds majority, thus paving the way for the merger. Around 229 parliamentarians voted in favour of the amendment while one voted against it. The bill was opposed by two allies of the government, including Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP).
The amendment would bring an end to colonial-era laws governing FATA, extend the writ of Pakistan’s courts to the tribal belt and ensure that development activities were initiated in the areas.
After the passage of the bill by the federal level, the KP Assembly had summoned a session on Sunday to mull over its merger strategy. However, JUI-F had refused to attend the proceedings and announced to surround the provincial assembly to protest the passage of the bill.
Bill passed with national consensus:
“Today this house has approved a historic bill, which will have a very positive effect on Pakistan. I thank the opposition for their support,” Prime Minister (PM) Shahid Khaqan Abbasi told legislators after the historic vote on Thursday.
“We need to provide the residents of the tribal areas with the same facilities enjoyed by citizens in other areas of Pakistan,” he added.
PM Abbasi had also said that a committee worked for over two years and presented a report that eventually led to the constitution of the FATA implementation committee. “The committee report was assessed by the civil and military leadership, including the army chief,” he said, adding that the bill was approved with the consensus of the government and opposition members.
“I am especially thankful to Khursheed Shah, Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Farooq Sattar,” he said.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad later in the day (Thursday), Abbasi thanked all the parties for cooperation in passing the bill in NA and vowed to scrap the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) after implementation of the FATA bill.
The prime minister had also said that the amendment would be the beginning of large-scale development in FATA and ensure that the residents of these areas enjoyed equal rights like other citizens of Pakistan.
“Rs 100 billion per year will be spent for 10 years to bring FATA at par with other parts of the country in terms of development and other facilities,” he said, adding that the KP government would have to implement this development agenda in the tribal areas. He further said local bodies elections would also be held in FATA.
Responding to a question regarding the nomination of the caretaker PM, Abbasi said no agreement had so far been reached between him and opposition leader Syed Khurshid Shah over the matter.
KP Assembly seats to increase to 147:
The draft bill seeks to amend seven articles in the Constitution of Pakistan to allow implementation of the proposed reforms.
The bill seeks an amendment to Article 1 of the Constitution, which defines the country’s territory and mentions FATA as a separate entity along with the other four provinces.
The bill also seeks to increase the number of seats in the KP Assembly to 147 from the current 126. The general seats of the provincial assembly would increase from 99 to 117, per the wordings of the bill. Moreover, the seats for women would be increased from 22 to 26, while religious minorities’ seats would increase from three to four.
According to the sub-section of the bill, FATA would be granted 18 general seats, including four seats for women and one for religious minorities.
Moreover, FATA’s 12 seats in NA would be merged with those of KP, thus increasing the province’s representation in NA from 48 to 60.
