Jirga wants Fata merger reversed

BARA: The members of the Fata Qaumi Jirga on Saturday said the tribespeople were not taken into confidence before merging the ex-Fata with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Speaking at a press conference, Malik Bismillah Khan, Malik Tamash Shalmani, Malik Musa Khan Afridi and others said that the government merged the tribal areas with KP without taking the local people into confidence. They said the merger was forced upon them without considering the local customs and traditions.

The elders said the Fata Qaumi Jirga, All Qabail Loya Jirga and Qabilistan Tahafuz Movement would hold a rally at Bab-e-Khyber on May 8. Malik Bismillah said the elders would come up with the future line of action at the planned protest rally to safeguard tribal customs and traditions besides advocating for the restoration of the old system, which was in vogue in the tribal areas before the merger

“We reject the current system, which was imposed on tribal people. We will protest against it,” Malik Bismillah Afridi said. He asked the Supreme Court to hear a case challenging the merger of ex-Fata with KP. He claimed that the ones, who had supported the merger, were now opposing it after seeing the situation on the ground. He maintained that the government was mulling options to tax the tribal people, who were already faced with a host of problems. He said that the local people had taken loans to set up business so they were not in a position to pay taxes as many people were still homeless and were yet to make ends meet.