Fata reforms bill: opposition's walkout from National Assembly enters ninth day

Opposition lawmakers in National Assembly on Thursday walked out from the House for the ninth consecutive day in protest against the government for not tabling Fata reforms bill for voting. Shortly after the session began, Pakistan Peoples Party's member Naveed Qamar protested for not finding the bill in the agenda and lambasted the government for not being serious in introducing reforms for the tribal area.
Qamar said that a huge amount of money of taxpayers is spent on proceedings of the House but their issues are not resolved here. He said that the government should learn a lesson from Faizabad sit-in when it was left alone to deal with the enraged protesters. A government minister has admitted the government had to capitulate before the protesters for losing support of all other parties, he said.
He said, "We would not compromise for the rights of Fata people and would not become the part of proceedings of the House unless the government tables the Fata reforms bill for passage." He said that the people of Fata are looking towards the government for fulfilling their hopes by passing the bill. The opposition parties have been pressing the government to bring the Fata reforms bill in the House for vote, so that tribal people should also be given the same rights as other Pakistanis enjoy in rest of the country.
Minister SAFRON Abdul Qadir Baloch, however, sought more time from the opposition to table the reforms bill, saying the government does not want to further delay the matter. He said that there is a need of more consultations with the stakeholders before tabling the bill in the House.
"We want to table such a Fata reforms bill in the House which would be acceptable to everyone. For this purpose, we have almost reached it and will soon give good news to the people of tribal areas," he said.
He criticized the opposition parties too for not introducing reforms in the tribal areas despite being in the government for three times. The minister assured the House that people of Fata will get their due rights soon.
Afterwards, the opposition staged a walkout from the House and Pakistan Peoples Party MNA Ramesh Lal pointed out quorum. The Speaker suspended the proceedings of the House till completion of the quorum. The House met again after half an hour but House was no in order and the deputy speaker prorogued the House.
Earlier on Wednesday, Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and the minister SAFRON had assured the opposition members to table the bill in the House on Thursday for vote, but the commitment was not honored once again.
The speaker on Thursday was forced to suspend proceedings of the House for the eighth time due to lack of quorum. Later, Deputy Speaker Murtaza Javed Abbasi prorogued proceedings of the House.
The Fata is still ruled under the British-made Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) of 1901, which violate the fundamental rights of the tribal people. The reforms bill, that was part of the National Action Plan of 2015, includes mainstreaming the tribal region by extending the Supreme Court's jurisdiction to the area, repealing the archaic FRC as well as its merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.