Govt urged to expedite tribal districts mainstreaming

PESHAWAR: Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) leader and former senior minister Sikandar Hayat Khan Sherpao on Thursday said that the government should expedite the process to mainstream the newly- merged tribal districts in the true sense.

He was talking to a delegation of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) comprising Ghazi Salahuddin, Hina Jilani and Parveen Soomro, said a press release.

Sikandar Sherpao expressed concern over the deployment of the army during the upcoming election for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly in the tribal districts.

He maintained that the prime minister and ministers had started visiting the merged districts to announce uplift schemes, which amounted to pre-polling rigging. The QWP leader said that though the tribal areas have been merged into the province, the government did not pay any heed to solve the issues being faced by the local population.

He said that lack of political will and power struggle among some quarters had created a vacuum on the ground as they were unwilling to relinquish their power.

“The government could not iron out a strategy to ensure service delivery and address the grievances of the common man,” he argued.

He pointed out that a level playing field was not being provided to all the candidates in order to pave the way for the victory of the candidates backed by the government.

Sikandar Sherpao also expressed concern over the violation of the human rights in the merged districts and said that his party would spare no effort to promote human rights and stand by the oppressed.