Fata natives rally support for merger with KP

As Islamabad’s famed D-Chowk saw thousands of people from Fata gather on Monday to protest the delay in the proposed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa-Fata merger on Monday, Karachi too played host to a significant show of support for the movement.

Political leaders and influentials were among the hundreds of Fata natives who assembled outside the Karachi Press Club as part of two demonstrations – the main one by Shah Jee Gul Afridi, an MNA from Khyber Agency and Karachi-based business tycoon, who is heading the movement for merging Fata (the Federally Administered Tribal Areas) with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) – and another by the Awami National Party as a show of solidarity. Supporters of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf also attended.

Participants came from the city’s various parts in the form of processions and gathered outside the press club. A huge procession commenced from Shireen Jinnah Colony, where Afridi and Shinwari tribesmen of Khyber Agency have been running their truck businesses. Musa Khan alias Haji Hindustan, who is a important aide of Afridi in Karachi, headed the rally.   

Speakers at the rally called for merging the semi-autonomous northwestern region with the rest of the country, and demanded the abolition of the colonial-era British laws, including the Frontier Crimes Regulations.

The protesters also demanded amendments to the constitution to extend the jurisdiction of the superior courts to Fata.

They criticised Maulana Fazlur Rheman, the head of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl, and Mehmood Khan Achakzai, head of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, for opposing the merger.

Younas Bunariee, the ANP Sindh’s secretary general, said Karachi was a city where people of all seven tribal agencies lived in a large number. “The participation in the protest shows that the KP-Fata merger is the demand of tribal people living from Khyber to Karachi.”

Bunariee said the federal government was bound to provide the tribal people with their basic rights as per their wishes and rid them of the FCR at the earliest. “Our party has a very clear policy in this regard and will continue to raise voice in support of the tribal people,” he said.

Amir Nawab, former provincial labour minister, Haji Aurangzeb Buneri, the party’s provincial vice-president, and Altaf Advocate were among the key speakers. Supporters of MNA Afridi have also same arguments. Sakhi Ur Rehman said more than 90 per cent of tribesmen wanted the KP-Fata merger for social and economic development in their area.

“The Fata-KP merger is something natural,” Rehman said, adding that tribal people were already dependent for health, education, commerce and other concerns on the nearest metropolitan centres of KP. Earlier in the week, announcements were made in all seven tribal agencies appealing the people to go to Islamabad to pressure the government into accepting an early KP-Fata merger.