JI wants Fata merged into KP

BARA: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Senator Sirajul Haq on Friday demanded immediate merger of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.He was addressing a gathering on Friday at Bar Qambarkhel in Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency. Several people from various political parties announced joining the JI on the occasion.

JI provincial head Mushtaq Ahmad Khan, former MNA Haroon Rasheed, Intikhab Chamkani, Fata JI leaders Sardar Khan, Shah Faisal Afridi, Zarnoor Afridi and others were also present. Sirajul Haq said that Fata should be merged into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) abolished. He said several JI leaders belonging to the tribal areas had been arrested and punished under FCR in Fata.

The JI chief added the tribal people should be given rights like those in Islamabad and Karachi. “The government has not set up any university or medical college for the people of Fata,” he said.

He asked the government to announce the return of the remaining internally displaced people (IDPs) before April 25 or else the JI would launch a protest drive. “The tribesmen vacated their homes and moved to other areas during militancy,” he said.