ISLAMABAD: With just eight days in the completion of its term, the 14th National Assembly of Pakistan made history on Thursday by passing the 31st Constitutional Amendment Bill of 2018 paving the way for the merger of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. As many as 229 members voted in the favour of the bill, presented in the House by Law Minister Chaudhary Mahmood Bashir Virk. There were 11 votes cast against the bill that was approved clause by clause. On Friday (today), the bill will be tabled in the upper House of the Parliament. With the amendment to the constitution, FATA will get 16 general and five reserved seats – four for women and one for non-Muslims – in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly. The election on these seats will be held within a year of the upcoming general elections. Since the region will no longer remain under federal administration, the constitutional amendment bill will lead to a reduction in the number of seats in the National Assembly from 342 to 336. However, the members of the National Assembly to be elected from the region in 2018 election will continue till the end of the next assembly’s five-year term. In Senate, the total tally of seats will come down from 104 to 96. FATA senators will continue to serve till the end of their constitutional term. Once the process of merger has been finalised, seats in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly will increase form 126 to 147. Speaking on the occasion, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbassi said that a joint bill of the government and the opposition would yield in FATA’s merger with the KP. He said the move was aimed at putting an end to the 150-year-old system in tribal areas, adding the passage of the historic amendment bill would have far reaching effects. PM Abbasi thanked the opposition benches for extending their support to the bill. He said that with the passage of the bill, the House had demonstrated national consensus on an important issue. He expressed confidence that other matters faced by the federation would be addressed in a similar manner. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan, who showed up in the Assembly session after a two-year hiatus, also congratulated the House for coming together on the agenda of FATA merger, despite differences between the ruling and the opposition parties. He said the demand for a separate province in the region was unreasonable, adding that tribal people wanted quick resolution of their longstanding issues. Staunch opponents of the merger plan, both Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F) and Pakhtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) boycotted the session on Thursday. The Muttahida Quami Movement-Pakistan (MQM-Pakistan) supported the bill despite reservations. Speaking in the House before the bill was tabled, PTI leader Shah Mehmoood Qureshi said that it was a historic day for the country. He said the merger of FATA with KP would usher in the completion of Pakistan’s federation. Qureshi said that JUI-F and PkMAP had wasted nearly two years by opposing the merger plan, only for their vested interests. Salient features of the bill 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 four provinces. Articles 51 and 106 will also be amended through the bill. The two articles specify the number of seats allocated to each of the federating units in the national and provincial assemblies. Articles 246 and 247 will stand repealed with the passage of the bill into an Act. These articles place tribal areas under the command and control of the President. With the passage of the bill, the region will become eligible for a Rs100 billion grant under the National Finance Commission award. In addition, it will continue to get Rs1 billion every year for 10 years, under a development plan. Speaking about the bill, Barrister Zafarullah said that the notorious Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) would be replaced with an interim governance system till the full integration of the region into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Next steps Though the passage of the 31st amendment is a major step forward towards the merger, there still remains the passage of the bill from the Senate as well as from the Khyber Pukhtunkhwa Assembly. As per Article 239(4) of the Constitution, the president cannot assent a constitutional amendment bill which affects geographical boundaries of a province without approval by the assembly of that province. The article reads, “A bill to amend the Constitution which would have the effect of altering the limits of a province shall not be presented to the president for assent unless it has been passed by the provincial assembly of that province by the votes of not less than two-thirds of its total membership.” If the bill does not get through the KP Assembly, then the fate of Fata merger will be in the hands of new representatives to be elected in the coming general elections. Therefore, even after its passage from the National Assembly and the Senate, the president will have to wait to give his assent till the installation of the new assembly. Published in Daily Times, May 25th 2018.