Jirga says Fata merger has not benefitted tribal people

BARA: A grand jirga of the Kukikhel tribe convened in the Jamrud tehsil of the tribal district on Monday vowed support to the movement for ending the merger of the tribal areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Chaired by Malik Naseer Ahmad, the jirga was attended by elders, political leaders and youth in large number. Fata Qaumi Jirga chairman Malik Bismillah Khan Afridi, Malik Fazlur Rehman, Malik Zarab Khan, Malik Najeebullah, Malik Wilayat Shah, Malik Dawood Shah Haji Niqab Shah, Haji Safat Shah and others were among some of the participants.

Malik Naseer Ahmad said he had supported the merger of the tribal areas with KP in the past but said now he regretted his decision as it did not benefit the tribal people but instead increased their problems.

“No development projects have been launched so far and there is no improvement in the education, health, law and order. Jobs have not been provided to merged districts youths but our minerals, forests, mountains, lands and resources have been grabbed instead by the government,” he maintained, adding the Kukikhel tribe would back the anti-merger movement.

He said the government should allow the families of the Kukikhel tribe to return to native areas that had been displaced from Rajgal in Tirah Valley during militancy.

Malik Naseer Ahmad recalled that an agreement had been signed between Kukikhel and the administration last year for that but it was yet to be implemented.Fata Qaumi Jirga chairman Malik Bismillah Khan Afridi said that all the six sub-tribes of Kukikhel should come prepared by next Monday to launch a proper move against the merger.

Malik Muhammad Yusuf Madukhel, Haji Nawab, Haji Malik Abdul Zahir Sher Khankhel, Malik Ahmad Shah Muniakhel and other elders spoke on the occasion as well and pledged to continue the struggle until the end of the merger of the tribal areas.