Daily Times

PESHAWAR: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) FATA has demanded of the federal government to announce a comprehensive fiscal package for rehabilitation and reconstruction of damaged infrastructure in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), and called for immediate merger of FATA into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

The demand was made by JI FATA Ameer, Sardar Khan while addressing a press conference at press club on Wednesday. He was flanked by JI FATA General Secretary Mohammad Rafiq, Zarnoor Afridi, Dr Munsif Khan, and Qari Abdul Habib.

He said the roads, schools and other major infrastructure has badly affected due prolonged militancy in the FATA, which was also deprived from basic amenities. He demanded of the government to announce Rs 500 billion package for rehabilitation of affected people, re-building roads infrastructure, health and education facility in tribal region.

Commenting on the recent announced Fata reforms package, Sardar Khan said the people of FATA have been deprived of their basic rights to get access to Supreme Court and High Court and every decision is being imposed upon them under black law of Frontier Crime Regulation (FCR), he added. He alleged that bureaucracy still conspiring to delay FATA reforms and block its merger into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa however he said that these conspiracies will no more work. He demanded of the government to abolish the draconian law of FCR in FATA and merge it in KP before 2018 general elections.

JI FATA Ameer strongly opposed the idea of holding referendum in Fata, whether tribal people want to merge into KP or create it as separate entity.

According to a survey, he added that about 71 per cent tribal people have favored to merger FATA in KP. He further viewed that the elected parliamentarians from FATA have already approved the recommendation of the FATA Reforms Committee (FRC). He also suggested the holding of population census and local bodies’ elections in FATA before 2018 general elections. He said that government must amend various articles regarding name of FATA saying that name of FATA should be removed from the article one of the constitution.