JI gives govt Dec 31 deadline for merger of Fata with KP

ISLAMABAD: Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Senator Sirajul Haq on Tuesday gave the federal government deadline of December 31 for implementation on Fata reforms and bring tribal areas in the national mainstream.

Addressing participants of long march which ended at China Chowk, on Tuesday morning, the JI top leader said the people of Fata and party workers from across the country would set up city of tents in the federal capital to give permanent sit-in in Islamabad if their demands regarding Fata reforms are not accepted.

During his speech, Siraj also reminded the PML-N government about 1996 long march of Jamaat which was led by then Ameer Qazi Hussain Ahmad which ultimately resulted in end of Benazir Bhutto government after a few days.

Sirajul Haq, however, promised that the JI’s next long march and sit-in which would start on December 31, would create any hardships for the common man. But they would not allow the government to continue its function as the President House and Prime Minister House would also be locked down.

The opposition leader in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah also reached China Chowk to express solidarity with the people of tribal areas and other protestors. He also criticised the PML-N government for delaying tactics in passage of Fata reforms bill by the National Assembly which he said was injustice with Fata people.

Earlier, the JI long march which had started from Bab-e-Khyber near Peshawar on Sunday entered Islamabad via Taxila and Faizabad interchange and ended at China Chowk, about a kilometer distance from D Chowk. The protest rally from Faizabad to China Chowk continued without any break amid heavy rain with small intervals.

The JI top leader was accompanied by other leaders including JI parliamentary leader in the National Assembly Sahibzada Tariqullah, naib Ameer Mian Muhammad Aslam, KP province Ameer Mushtaq Ahmad Khan, Sahibzada Haroonur Rashid, Zubair Farooq Khan, Shamsur Rehman Swati and others.

Sirajul Haq made it clear on the federal government that it would have to rights equal to those which were being enjoyed by citizens residing in other parts of the country.

He said that previously the government had brought incomplete bill in the National Assembly but that relief was also taken back and the amended Fata reforms bill was yet to see day of the light. “We will not allow the government to befool people of Fata through use of delaying tactics,” he said adding that they wanted the government to bring legislation in the National Assembly before December 31 otherwise it would have to face consequences.

He congratulated protestors coming from tribal areas and other JI workers for joining the three-day long march which started from Bab-e-Khyber on Sunday amid intermittent weather. He pointed out that people of tribal areas were feeling sense of deprivation and insecurity due to injustice with them since imposition of FCR by the British rule saying that Political Agents and Tahsildars were still enjoying powers more than Mughal emperors. “Merger of Fata with KP province is the only way of ending lawlessness and terrorism in tribal areas,” he said.