Tribal districts’ elders reject Fata-KP merger

BARA: The elders of various tribal districts on Sunday rejected Fata’s merger into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and demanded a separate province. The elders including Malik Faizullah Jan Kukikhel, Malik Salahuddin Kukikhel, Malik Raziq Shinwari, Malik Nadir Khan, Malik Izat Khan and others belonging to Bajaur and Mohmand tribal districts attended a meeting in this respect. They said that they did not accept merge of Fata into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. “KP province itself has deprived several of its districts of like Swabi, Charsadda, and Kohat of development projects and rights,” Malik Faizaullah Jan said, adding that how the KP government would develop Waziristan, Bajaur, Mohmand and other tribal districts. He added that the federal government had ignored Fata since Pakistan came into being and the tribal people were deprived of rights under a conspiracy. “The tribal people will launch movement for separate province soon,” he said. The elders said that the tribal people did not accept police system in their areas. They added that Levies and Khassadars forces better know about the tribal customs and traditions. The elders said they would hold a grand jirga of tribal elders from all tribal districts on September 1 to launch movement for a separate province.