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Thursday March 28, 2024

KP-Fata merger bill sails through Senate

By Mumtaz Alvi
May 26, 2018


ISLAMABAD: The Senate on Friday approved the constitutional amendment bill on the merger of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) by an overwhelming majority of 71-5 vote.

The JUI-Fazl senators walked out, while five PkMAP senators, Usman Kakar, Sardar Azam Musakhel, Gul Bushra, Shafiq Tareen and Abida Muhammad Azeem, voted against the bill. However, on the Senate website, Tareen and Abida both are independent senators. The piece of legislation aims at extending political, financial, administrative and human rights reforms to Fata.

In the 104-member House, 69 votes were needed to pass the constitutional amendment by two-thirds majority which the government managed despite opposition by two of its allies — PkMAP and JUI-F.

The JUI-F senators, however, abstained from voting, saying the Fata-KP merger was being done against the wishes of tribal people — a claim which both government and other opposition political parties rejected outright.

The Constitutional (Amendment), Bill, 2018 that envisages KP-Fata merger has now been passed by both chambers of parliament and now it will be sent to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly for passage. A no-trust motion against the KP Assembly speaker has already been withdrawn to ensure smooth passage of the resolution.

The legislation abolishes the draconian colonial-era regulations used to govern the area for decades, making the tribal people equal citizens of Pakistan. Opposition political parties, especially the PTI and PPP, recalled the struggles made by their respective leaderships for the Fata mainstreaming.

“It’s because of my leader Imran Khan’s struggle that we are seeing this big day today,” said PTI parliamentary leader in the Senate Muhammad Azam Swati. “We succeeded as we passed the bill, but you miserably failed in your motives,” he said referring to the JUI-F Senator Maulana Ghafoor Haideri for criticising the bill.

Senator Muhammad Ali Saif of the MQM said creation of more provinces and administrative units was need of the hour to better manage things, as big provinces had miserably failed to come up to the expectations of the people.

Leader of Opposition in the Senate Sherry Rehman said the PPP did not dance to the tune of powers who have been opposing the Fata mainstreaming and it had a history of struggle for the rights of the Fata people. She recalled that the first committee on Fata mainstreaming was formed by the then Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, as he had tasked Gen Naseerullah Khan Babar with looking look into the matter.

“Late Benazir Bhutto even approached the Supreme Court for the rights of the people of tribal areas. Fata people had become a buffer zone since the colonial era, but at least we must not make them our buffer zone anymore.” Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Sirajul Haq said the merger would strengthen Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with additional representation in Parliament.

Condemning the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR), he said a British officer had termed the law “worst” as tribal people had a history of fighting against the British.

Opposing the bill, JUI-F Senator Abdul Ghafoor Haideri said there was no logic in the decision.

“Since the matter is about the people of Fata and their identity, they should have been asked what they wanted. There were three better options: separate province, repealing of FCR or a council system.” Senator Usman Kakar of PkMAP said the bill was passed in haste due to uncertainty of the upcoming general polls.

“These people are in a hurry to pass the bill because they have standing orders from [COAS] Gen Qamar Bajwa to pass the bill immediately. Let me tell you that if this bill is passed, the next elections will be delayed,” he claimed.

Later talking to The News, Kakar said his party would have deliberations on the details of legislation to chalk out its future course of action. He said the party meeting would be held shortly on this critical matter.

Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani congratulated the members on the passage of what he called an all-important bill. He said the mainstreaming of Fata had fulfilled the promise of the Senate of Pakistan made with people of tribal areas. The 278th session, which lasted for two sittings, was prorogued.