Checkposts, mines in Fata to be taken up with COAS: Imran

PESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan said he would soon hold a meeting with the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa to take up three issues including merger of Fata into KP, reducing number of security checkposts in Fata, immediate recovery of missing persons.

Presenting seven-point agenda for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), he vowed to merge the tribal areas into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Addressing the Fata convention at Chief Minister's House here on Wednesday, he said that Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief's opposition had delayed the merger of Fata into KP. The old system in Fata had collapsed and there was no other option but to merge the tribal areas into the province, he said. Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak, tribal elders and youth were present on the occasion.

The PTI chief said they were with the tribal people and would materialise their dream for a better and prosperous future. He said the tribal people were getting justice through jirga that was the beauty of tribal system. The PTI chairman said that ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif was interested in promoting his own personal interests and held him responsible for all the ills. He maintained that the former prime minister could have merged Fata into KP if he was really interested in solving the problems of the tribal people.

Imran Khan said that besides initiating mega projects, they would also reserve three percent share in the National Finance Commission for Fata, which he said was about Rs100 billion. This amount, he said, would be spent on the development of the tribal areas annually. He said if his party came into power, he would collect funds from the provinces and spent on the development of tribal areas. Progress couldn't be made without employing the youth, he said, adding, they would give representations to tribal area in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly. He said the PTI would actively contest election in tribal areas.

The PTI chief recalled that the brave and sincere tribespeople had always rendered sacrifices for the country and nation. He said that at the insistence of America, the Pakistan Army entered the tribal areas but now the PTI would become voice of the tribal people. After coming into power, he said the PTI would hold local bodies’ election within 180 days and expand the jurisdiction of the high court and Supreme Court to Fata. "We will abolish the notorious Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) besides initiating mega projects," he said and added that work on the merger of Fata with KP had already started but Nawaz Sharif delayed the process at the insistence of Maulana Fazlur Rehman.

Meanwhile, addressing a reception hosted in his honour by Ayub Afridi, Imran Khan said that Nawaz Sharif was living in a fool's paradise to think he was being pushed towards a blind alley. "He [Nawaz Sharif] is being pushed towards Adiala Jail that is his last destination," he said. He said that some demands of Pakhtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) chief Manzoor Pishteen are justified as Fata people faced many oppression. He said that it was also their demand to recover the missing persons.