Daily Times

LAHORE: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Ameer Sirajul Haq has said that the people of FATA had been denied basic rights for the last seventy years under the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) and it was high time that the black law of the colonial era be abolished.

Talking to the media at the residence of MNA Shah Jee Gul at Jamrud on Thursday, he demanded that the reforms suggested by the Sartaj Aziz Committee be introduced without further delay and the FATA be merged into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the light of the report.

He said that the tribal people had been living under jungle law for the last seventy years and their young generation had launched a movement against the FCR and had offered great sacrifices for this cause. As a result of their movement, the government had set up the Sartaj Aziz Committee.

He said that the Sartaz Aziz Committee, in its report, had stated that the tribal people wanted civic rights at par with the people of the other parts of the country including the civic rights and administrative and financial powers for their area which was not possible under the tribal system.

The JI chief demanded equal rights for the members of the national and the provincial assemblies elected from the tribal areas. He said that at present, these members could not legislate for their areas nor raise their voice for their rights.

He said that the JI had waged a strong movement for the rights of the tribal people and it would not abandon them and it would take every necessary step in this direction in consultation with the local people. He said that nature had given a historic opportunity to the tribal people and if they missed this chance, they would have to live under the old system for another seventy years.

FATA chief Sardar Khan, MNA Sahibzada Tariqulalh Khan, and other JI leaders were also present on the occasion.