Protest staged against Fata-KP merger

TANK: The elders belonging to Mahsud and Burki tribes on Thursday took out protest rally in South Waziristan against the merger of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Led by Malik Hashim Khan Mahsud, Malik Muhammad, Malik Kiramatullah Mahsud, Malik, Malik Irfanuddin Barki, Malik Rapa Khan Mahsud and Malik Janan Mahsud, the protesters were carrying banners and placards inscribed with slogans against Fata’s merger into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The protesters marched from political agent office in Tank to Bab-e-Waziristan.

Speaking on the occasion, they said that members of the Fata Reform Committee comprising Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, Minister of State and Frontier Region Lieutenant General (Retd) Abdul Qadir Baloch and Sartaj Aziz had visited Chagmalai.

They said that the tribal elders had told the committee that houses of tradespeople had been devastated in the war against terrorism.

“We would not let Fata merge into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa until and unless houses of more than 10million people were reconstructed,” Malik Hashim Khan, said, adding that they had given 10-year period to the Fata reforms committee.

They said Abdul Qadir Baloch in a television interview had revealed that the tribepeople did not agree to the committee on Fata-KP merger. The tribal people did not want to merge Fata into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, they added.

They said that after Eidul Fitr tribespeople from Bajaur Agency to South Waziristan Agency would launch a protest campaign against the Fata-KP merger.