Siraj seeks provincial status for Fata

PESHAWAR: Seeking status of a province for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Sirajul Haq on Saturday lambasted the rulers for not doing away with the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) and asking them why it wasn’t enforced in Islamabad if it was such a good system of law.
“The FCR was introduced for the criminals and anti-social elements but after the creation of Pakistan it is being used against the tribal people. If it is such a good system, then it should be implemented in Islamabad too,” Sirajul Haq told the media after holding a meeting with the representatives of the Bajaur Political Alliance.
Political activists belonging to different parties including JI, PPP, ANP, PML-N, PML-Quaid and other groups have formed the Bajaur Political Alliance to jointly campaign for the rights of the tribal people in Bajaur Agency.
The JI chief demanded the government to give due rights to the tribespeople. “Fata should be given a separate status like other provinces or there must be a Fata Council like that of Gilgit-Baltistan,” he stressed.
He said people of Fata had always offered sacrifices for Pakistan but Islamabad never acknowledged this. “The tribesmen are patriots but they were never given their due rights. They have been suffering due to the violence in Fata for the last more than 15 years,” said the JI chief, who was recently elected to the Upper House of Parliament.
Sirajul Haq said that areas could be conquered through military operations but hearts can only be won through love. He expressed his reservations over the plan for the return of the internally displaced persons (IDPs), warning they have many options if the tribal people were not repatriated in a respectful manner.
The JI chief said educational institutions in Fata were closed and roads blocked for years now. Millions of tribespeople, he added, had been deprived of their basic rights.
He said a single government official was the head of the administration as well as the judicial system in the tribal agency and made everyone accountable but there is no system for his accountability.
He demanded the government to make immediate efforts for reforms in the Fata, provide basic facilities to the tribal people and ensure early return of the IDPs to their hometowns.