Khattak backs Fata merger into KP

Urges Centre to complete process before 2018

PESHAWAR: Urging the federal government to integrate the tribal areas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Chief Minister Pervez Khattak said on Tuesday that he supported the merger of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) into the province.

He said that Fata reforms should reflect the aspirations of the tribal population.“The process should be completed before 2018 and the tribal agencies be given the status of districts,” he said while talking to a delegation of all parties conference on Fata reforms at the Chief Minister’s House here.

Senior Minister Inayatullah Khan, Minister Health Shahram Khan Tarakai, Special Assistant to Chief Minister on Information and Higher Education Mushtaq Ghani, President of Fata Siyasi Ittehad Nisar Mohmand, Iqbal Afridi, senior lawyer Latif Afridi, Mukhtar Bacha, Iqbal Afridi, Zar Noor Afridi, Zahir Shah Safi, Asad Afridi, Ijaz Mohmand, Abdul Rahim, Mustafa and Saeed Khan were present on the occasion.

Pervez Khattak assured all-out support to the merger of Fata into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He urged the federal government to complete the process before 2018 to give representation to the people of Fata in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.

The delegates agreed to extend the constitution to Fata and extension of jurisdiction of the high court and Supreme Court. Pervez Khattak disagreed with the proposal to keep intact article 247 of the Constitution and gradual merger of Fata into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He maintained that the Article 247 should be abolished as it empowered an individual therefore these powers should be exercised by the elected representatives and the parliament. The delegates suggested amendments in articles 247 and 246 in the backdrop of merger of Fata into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

They also suggested amending Article 106 of Constitution to give enhanced representation to the people of Fata in the provincial Assembly.The chief minister said that after the merger of Fata into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the people of tribal areas would become equal stakeholders in the incentives and facilities of the proposed China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

He added that the merger should take place before 2018 so that the local government system could be extended to the tribal areas. Pervez Khattak called for local body system in the tribal areas through the devolution of power so that the problems of the tribal people could be resolved.

The chief minister said that after the merger of Fata into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Constitution should be amended so that the tribal areas could have developmental strategy. Pervez Khattak said that the objectives behind the merger were to establish the writ of the government and bring about a change in the socioeconomic condition of the people.