Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet on Thursday approved in principle recommendations of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) Reforms Committee, which included the merger of the tribal areas with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and repeal of the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR).

The federal cabinet met under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Secretary SAFRON Arbab Shahzad briefed the cabinet on recommendations of Fata Reforms Committee (FRC).

The cabinet gave go ahead to the merger of the tribal region with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the most contentious issue hindering the implementation of the FRC report.

Speaking on the occasion, Nawaz stressed the need for focusing on development of under-developed areas for improving the living standards of the people. The premier said due share would be given from the national resources to Azad Kashmir, Gilgit Baltistan and FATA people.

He said it was obligatory for the federal and provincial governments to work for the welfare of the people of these regions.

The prime minister said equal opportunities should be provided to everyone.

“Pakistan belongs to every Pakistani and all areas of the country should have equal rights and access to national resources,” he said.

Nawaz said development of FATA was the responsibility of the entire nation and country.

“Mainstreaming and developing these less developed areas is not the sole responsibility of people living in Islamabad, but every Pakistani must contribute in this process,” he said.

He said tribal people were patriotic and they love Pakistan. He said time had come that the tribal people would be brought into mainstream to end their sense deprivation.

Earlier, a committee headed by Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz had formulated a set of recommendations for bringing the tribal areas into the national fold including the merger with KP. PML-N ally JUI-F had opposed the merger and it was on Fazlur Rehman’s pressure that the matter was removed from agenda of the last cabinet meeting.

The FATA parliamentarians had threw their full weight behind the committee report and even demanded immediate merger to enable the tribesmen take part in 2018 general elections.

A 10-year plan envisaged development of FATA; repeal of the FCR; establishment of high court and Supreme Court benches; merger with KP; recruitment of 20,000 locals in Levies to replace army troops.

The government committee had in its reforms package proposed a three percent of national resources for the development of FATA areas until it was merged with the KP and if the package was held in abeyance on any pretext the tribal belt would continue to be deprived of additional financial resources to change their economic and infrastructure development for, any fund that was released through the present system would had no assurance it would be judiciously spent.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra attended the cabinet meeting on special invitation.

Later in the day, Adviser to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz shed light on the recommendations approved in the cabinet meeting. He said the premier “approved in principle to the recommendations of the committee to mainstream Fata in five years in consultation with different stakeholders of the area”.

Provisions would be made through a constitutional amendment to enable the people of FATA to elect their representatives to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly in the 2018 elections, said Aziz.

The Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) would also be repealed and replaced by the new Riwaj Regulation for Tribal Areas, in which provisions related to collective responsibility would be omitted, thereby making an individual responsible only for his own acts.

He said further that the National Finance Commission would be requested to consider allocating 3% of the gross federal divisible pool on an annual basis for the implementation of the FATA Development Plan. This would be in addition to the existing allotment of Rs 21 billion from the annual Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP).

The recommendations also include the target date for repatriation of all IDPs, which was April 30 this year, while reconstruction activities in areas affected by military operations would also be completed by 2018.