PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has given a full sketch of the merger of FATA with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa saying that extending the existing law, constitutional and administrative structure to FATA is a reasonable and realistic solution.
The merger should neither be delayed nor be obstructed and any interference in this regard would be against the will of the tribal. Each agency has its own Riwaj that the people practice. The province should be the centre of power. After the merger, controlling the elected members of the merged FATA with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will be against the essence of the merger. The army chief guaranteed against ethnic profiling of the Pashtuns in Punjab and FC inspector general offered trained personnel for induction into police for policing FATA, he added.
He was addressing to a 100-member representative delegation of FATA Political Alliance at Chief Minister House, Peshawar. The chief minister assured the Jirga of fighting the case of FATA in consonance with aspirations of the people. He said that the British left behind a set of draconian laws to forcibly control the people of FATA, and we cannot support such coercive laws. He said such laws breed tyranny and injustices.
The chief minister said that when the process of FATA reforms started, the provincial government was never taken on board. He said that he talked to Sartaj Aziz against experimentation with FATA as that might create mistrust and would destroy the system. The people of FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had the same traditions and they were comfortable with the existing laws. If the federal government was sincere to the merger, then the existing structure should be extended there. The province had the capacity to stand a complete structure of laws, administrative policing etc. The five-year plan would be a failure, he added. He said that after the merger the chosen people would be accountable to the administrative head of the province or the representative of the federation that should be taken care of.
Pervez Khattak said his government had a set of recommendations for the welfare of FATA’s people and any deviation would create differences, objections, obstacles and hurdles. He reminded, he had openly objected to the five-year transition for the merger of FATA into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, adding that it was a drama. The absence of power and resources was no solution to the problem. The army chief assured him to bring the recommendations of the province to the notice of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, he added. We assured the army chief of the provision of honest and efficient officers for efficient management and governance there.
Khattak assured the Jirga to meet them again but before that, they have to sit together and come up with better recommendations, and he would take their recommendations to a logical conclusion.
He said that his leader Imran Khan was always suggesting them for taking a strong stand against any wrong and with a strong stand they can win a case of public welfare.
Provincial Minister Shah Farman, ex-MNA Akhunzada Chattan, Alam Mehsood and Samina Afridi also spoke in favour of merger of FATA with Khyber PakhtunkhkwaPakhtunkhwaad Qaiser, PTI leader Khalid Masood and others were also present on the occasion.
