Tribal elders vow efforts for creation of new province

GHALLANAI: Tribal elders and maliks in a grand jirga on Saturday vowed to resist the ‘drama’ of merger of erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and continue efforts for the creation of a new province with the name of Qabailistan for the tribespeople.

Speaking at the jirga, the elders and maliks, including Khan Marjan, Akbar Khan, Ziarat Gul, Attaullah, Ayaz, Sher Afzal, Badar Zaman and others, said that the government had imposed merger on the tribespeople, which would be resisted tooth and nail to get our rights.

They said that the government should stop the drama of merger of Khassadars and Levies force into KP police as the tribespeople would never allow anyone to sabotage the tribal traditions and customs.

“The government is bent upon to gag our freedom on one pretext or the other. We have rendered matchless sacrifices in the war on terror as our houses, business markets and all infrastructure destroyed in militancy and military operations in Fata but now the government returns it with injustice, thana culture and a cumbersome judicial system,” the elders complained.

They alleged that the government made them scapegoat in the so-called war against terrorism but now it had turned a deaf ear to their woes. The speakers said that they were the true followers of Quaid-e-Azam and would never allow the imposition of corrupt system in Fata.