Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Legislators on Monday urged the government to bring the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) into mainstream.

The British rulers created a buffer zone on the Pak-Afghan border for their personal interest, but the Afghan government during Daud Khan’s tenure included their areas into mainstream and the areas got more development funds as compared to Pakistan’s FATA.

“We are far behind from Afghanistan in this regard and there is an urgent need to include FATA in mainstream areas and bring the area at par with development of other areas,” legislators expressed these views while continuing debate over FATA Reforms report.

The National Assembly decided to extend discussion over the report because it was an important issue, which if approved would also discourage terrorism in these areas.

Majority of the lawmakers endorsed merging the FATA with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa because there was similarity in their customs, tradition and even language. Taking part in the debate, PPP leader Naveed Qamar regretted that there were no fundamental rights for the tribal people and it looked that these people were not living in the 21st century. Similar, 14 reports on FATA reforms were established earlier but no one implemented, he lamented, adding that why the government could not implement it through a simple notification. The government and president were empowered to make any legislation through a notification.

He said the PPP government had provided special status to the people Gilgit- Baltistan. He assured the House that his party would also provide the same status to the tribal people.

Qaumi Watan Party chief Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao stressed for merging of FATA with KP. He opposed the creation of a separate province or holding any referendum in FATA. He said that there should be no politics over FATA reforms because they were related to the development of tribal people, which, he claimed, were deprived deliberately. Like Afghanistan, he said, Pakistan should also bring the tribal areas to mainstream. He stressed that there was no need for any further delay in implementation of the reforms in tribal areas. Before general elections 2018, he suggested, the status of FATA should change so that the tribal people may actively participate in the elections. He also suggested proper representation for the tribal people in KP Assembly.

Supporting the merging of FATA with KP, Awami National Party (ANP) parliamentary leader Ghulam Ahmad Bilour regretted that Pashtun were divided by the British in different parts of the region and also within the country.

Taking part in the discussion, the MQM MNA Abdul Waseem said that some provinces were too large and difficult to administer properly, adding that there were also voices for creation of more provinces in the country. He suggested that FATA should be made a new province and more provinces should be made for better management.