Daily Times

President Mamnoon Hussain on Monday signed the ‘FATA Interim Governance Regulation, 2018’. The FATA Interim Governance Regulation, 2018 is a set of interim rules, which apply in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) until it merges with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa “within a timeframe of two years”.

A bill paving way for KP-FATA merger was passed by KP Assembly on Sunday in its final phase. The bill was passed with two-thirds majority, after it was approved by the upper and lower chambers of parliament.

As many as 92 lawmakers voted in favour while seven MPAs used their votes against the bill.

The landmark bill will merge the tribal borderlands comprising seven agencies and six frontier regions with KP. Tribal people will get representation in the KP Assembly through the 31st Amendment Act.

Last week, the National Assembly and the Senate passed the bill titled 31st Amendment Act, 2018.

In the Lower House, the bill was moved by Minister for Law and Justice Chaudhry Mahmood Bashir Virk. Two hundred and twenty-nine parliamentarians voted in favour of the constitutional amendment, while one voted against it. The bill was opposed by government-allied parties JUI-F and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP).

In the Senate, 71 lawmakers voted in favour of the bill while five opposed the constitutional amendment.

Published in Daily Times, May 29^th 2018.