JUI-F not against Fata’s merger with KP: Fazl

PESHAWAR: The central head of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), Maulana Fazlur Rehman, has said he is not opposed to the merger of Fata with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. However, he said the decision in this regard should be taken after thorough consultations with all stakeholders.

Addressing a lawyers’ convention here at the JUI-F’s provincial secretariat on Sunday, the Maulana said a summary has been drafted to bring the tribal areas of Pakistan into the mainstream and it would be approved in the next cabinet meeting. He said the Fata Reforms Committee had recommended that the tribal areas should be brought into the national mainstream over a period of five years. “There is no possibility of merger of Fata with KP in the new draft. According to the summary of the draft, the tribesmen would decide their own fate and the future status of their areas,” he said.

He pointed out that most of the displaced tribesmen have yet to return to their respective areas and it would be an injustice with the tribal people to bypass them while taking decisions on issues concerning their lives and native places.

The JUI-F chief maintained that some political parties, including the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), had changed their stance on the future of Fata. He said his party had opposed the British-era Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) in the tribal areas and had always advocated the need for giving constitutional, legal, democratic and political rights to the tribal people. “Some of the political parties and parliamentarians wanted to impose their own decisions on the tribal people but we would never allow them to materialise their personal agenda in the name of Fata reforms,” he stressed.

The Maulana said the tribal areas had been kept backward and ignored in many sectors and it was time to bring the much-needed reforms in Fata to bring it on a par with the rest of the country. He said the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would prove a milestone in making Pakistan an economic power in the region. He added that construction work had started on many portions of the western route of the CPEC.On this occasion, many lawyers announced their decision to join the JUI-F. They expressed confidence in the leadership of Fazlur Rehman.