Advisor to Prime Minister on Political Affairs Engineer Amir Muqam announced on Monday that the government would implement all of the FATA reforms including merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, repeal of Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) and extension of Peshawar High Court jurisdiction to the tribal areas in letter and spirit.
This he stated while addressing the sit-in staged by FATA parliamentarians joined by other political parties here at D-Chowk to protest the delay in implementation of FATA reforms. Earlier FATA parliamentarians held a meeting with Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and informed him about their demands.
MNA Shah Jee Gul Afridi from FATA, who was organizer of the protest, claimed that during the meeting with the PM, the government has accepted their demands of repealing FCR and merger of FATA with KPK.
Amir Muqam said that demands of FATA parliamentarians and people are genuine. It is not a right way to have different laws in the same country, said Muqam adding that former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was serious in FATA reforms and constituted a reforms committee for this purpose. Those reforms were passed from the cabinet, Senate and National Assembly, he added.
The advisor said that the PM has pledged to implement all the reforms agreed with FATA people in letter and spirit.
The protesters dispersed peacefully after the announcement from the government representative who assured them that their genuine demands will be met soon.
Earlier, Emir Jamaat-e-Islami Siraj-ul-Haq said the residents of FATA want their rights as they have the same flag, country and religion like other Pakistanis. He said that the residents of the tribal areas want one law applicable to the region and the abolishment of the oppressive FCR law, which has been in place since the time of the British Raj.
Awami National Party's Ghulam Ahmed Bilour said they do not know why the merger of FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a key element of the reforms, is being delayed. He said nobody could stop FATA merger with KPK. ANP leader Mian Iftikhar Hussain said that the joint rally demanded the federal government to immediately abolish FCR, adding if their demands are not accepted then they would prolong the sit-in.
The PPP stands with the people of tribal areas in demanding equal rights as ensured for the people of other parts of the country, said Senator Farhatullah Babar. He said merger of FATA with KPK and demolishing the twin pillars of colonial rule, namely the FCR and controlling remotely from Islamabad, are genuine demands of the tribal people.
Senator Farhatullah Babar also criticized the two political parties for opposing their view in opposing equal rights to the tribal people on one pretext or the other. A religio-political party which has been advocating bringing Muslims of the world together is now suddenly opposing the coming together of FATA and Pakhtunkhwa in the same country, he said.
A nationalist political party that has been advocating unity among the Pakhtuns of Balochistan, KP, FATA and Afghanistan is now in the forefront denying unity of the Pakhtun tribesmen with the Pakhtuns of KPK, he said. Reforms in FATA were opposed by vested interests in the past also, when it was decided to allow general voting and extend political parties order, on the ground that the people were not yet ready for change.
Keeping in view the administrative, social, cultural, linguistic, political and geographical conditions, the merger in the province was most logical, he said. The merger will fundamentally alter political discourse in tribal areas and that was why the vested interest opposed it. He also opposed creation of the post of chief operating officer as overall in-charge of administration and development of FATA and called for strengthening the FATA Secretariat instead.
He said that the cabinet had decided to extend the jurisdiction of PHC to tribal areas but all of a sudden it was reversed and it was decided to extend the jurisdiction of Islamabad High Court to tribal areas and asked why it was done. He also demanded immediate demolition of the existing system of levy and collection of taxes, including cess, levies and rahdari, by the political agents which, he said, was "arbitrary, illegal and a tool for corruption."
This illegal practice has become a lucrative business for some as reportedly check posts are auctioned to the highest bidder. He said the FATA Reforms Committee had also recognized that the permit and rahdari system bred corruption and enhanced commodity prices and asked for its abolition. Earlier, representatives of multiple political parties clashed with the law enforcers as they moved towards the Red Zone to record their protest seeking merger of FATA with KP province.