Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Jehangir Tareen on Friday claimed that he was being victimised because his business interests clashed with the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and as he staged a walk out from the assembly.

He also claimed that the references filed against him wee totally unfair and not based on facts. About ten references were sent against Tareen to the election commission. “I have never been part of a company which has defaulted. I was targeted because I took a stay order over Sharif brothers who wanted to establish a sugar mill in South Punjab,” he maintained before he walked out.

Speaker National Assembly Ayaz Saadiq interrupted him and said that if he had any issues he could approach the court or the Election Commission. “I forwarded the references according to what I thought was right,” he said. The speaker said he could not chair the session when PTI chairman Imran Khan addressed the house on Thursday, because he was afraid of a verbal clash. The prime minister, himself wary of Tareen’s speech, made a hasty exit before his business rival’s address.

The Committee on FATA Reforms 2016 has recommended that the Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) should be merged with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as creation of new province was difficult. This was stated by Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz after he tabled the report of the committee’s report in the National Assembly. Explaining the salient features of the report, Aziz said comprehensive proposals had been prepared by the committee formed by the Prime Minister to address the problems of FATA residents. The report was prepared after holding detailed consultations with all the stakeholders including elected representatives of FATA, traders, journalists and civil society members of the area.

The Adviser said the committee recommended that FATA should be merged with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and creation of a new province was difficult. However, he said the process would take time. On the other hand, Minister for States and Frontier Regions Abdul Qadir Baloch told the House that TDPs would be fully rehabilitated within first five years and in the second phase, mega development projects would be implemented in the area. He said that local bodies’ elections had been proposed to be held in FATA next year.