ISLAMABAD: Muttahida Qabail Party (MQP) Chairman Habib Malik Aurakzai has said that nothing could dampen their courage and vowed to continue the sit-in till acceptance of their demands of holding general elections in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) along with the rest of the country.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday dismissed the petition of the MQP seeking the holding of general elections in FATA along with the rest of the country.
The workers of the MQP have set up a protest camp in front of the press club from the last one week and staged a protest demonstration here at NADRA Chowk to press the ECP to hold elections for the provincial seats in the recently merged tribal areas at the same time as the rest of the country, rather than delaying it for a year to avoid possible political uncertainty.
Addressing the protestors, Habib Malik Aurakzai said that they were greatly shocked by the ECP’s decision of dismissing the petition as the troubled-struck area has been neglected for the last 70 years and the timely elections in the area can pave way for the development of long-neglected regions.
Habib said that the people of FATA rendered matchless sacrifices in the war against terrorism, but instead of accepting their sacrifices, depriving them of elections was tantamount to pushing them further towards darkness.
He went on to say that it would be quite easy to influence the elections in FATA after general elections, hence the elections on the provincial seats reserved for FATA should be held along with the general elections.
The MQP chairman vowed that the protest sit-in would continue till the acceptance of their demands.
Talking to Pakistan Today, MQP Vice Chairman Habib Noor said that FATA has around 5 million population, hence it would be great injustice with the people of the area not to hold elections with the rest of the country.
He lamented that the ECP rejected their petition, saying that they would move Islamabad High Court (IHC) and even Supreme Court (SC) to get justice.
He vowed that their fight would continue till acceptance of their demands, adding that they would bring thousands of tribal to stage protest sit-in in front of PM house.