Tribal elders reject proposed draft of Fata Reforms Commission

PESHAWAR: The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) Political Alliance Saturday rejected the proposed draft report of the Fata Reforms Commission and announced to launch protest if the tribespeople were not given their due rights.
Speaking at a press conference, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) leader and head of the Fata Political Alliance Sahibzada Haroonur Rashid said that all political parties had rejected the proposed draft report.
He said they would resist if the government continued with its “anti-tribal policy.”
The representatives of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Awami National Party (ANP), Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and elders from various tribal agencies were present on the occasion. They said they would hold another meeting of their central leaders in Islamabad to ask the government to accept their demands.
On behalf of all the political parties and tribal elders, Haroonur Rashid said the Fata Reforms Commission constituted by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Sardar Mahtab Ahmad Khan had finalised its report, but it was against the recommendations proposed by the Fata Political Alliance for reforms in the tribal areas.
He said there was a dire need to bring political, democratic, constitutional, and educational reforms in Fata. “The Fata Reforms Commission’s report would deprive the tribespersons of their legitimate and basic rights,” he maintained.
Terming the draft report a joke, he declared that it was not acceptable to the more than eight million tribal people.