ISLAMABAD: President Mamnoon Hussain on Thursday signed the 25th constitutional amendment bill seeking the merger of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
After signing the bill, the president congratulated the people of FATA and KP.
The president is yet to sign the 31st Constitutional Amendment Bill, 2018 which will dissolve Article 247 of the Constitution. As per Article 247, the executive authority of the Federation shall extend to FATA and PATA (Provincially Administered Tribal Areas).
As soon as the president signs the 31st Constitutional Amendment Bill, 2018, the control of FATA Interim Governance Regulation, 2018 would be handed over to the KP government.
On May 28, the president had signed the ‘FATA Interim Governance Regulation, 2018’.
Earlier, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly passed the KP-FATA merger bill after it being already approved from the upper and lower chambers of the parliament.
On May 25, the Senate approved the constitutional amendment bill on the merger of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA.
During the session, 71 lawmakers voted in favour of nine clauses of the constitutional amendment bill while five were against them.
The National Assembly had passed the “Constitution (Thirty-First Amendment) Bill, 2018” with over two- thirds majority paving the way for the merger a day earlier. Two hundred and twenty-nine members parliamentarians voted in favour of the constitution amendment while one voted against it. The bill was opposed by government-allied parties Jamiat-e-ulema-Islam (JUI-F) and Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP).
The amendment will bring an end to colonial-era laws governing the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), extending the writ of Pakistani courts to its districts and increasing development assistance to its residents.