Jirga demands status of separate province for ex-Fata

WANA: The All Fata Jirga on Saturday asked the government to reverse the merger of tribal areas into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and give the status of a separate province to former Federally Administered Tribal Areas forthwith.

Parliamentarians, Ulema, elders and maliks from Bajaur, Mohmand, Orakzai, Khyber, North Waziristan, South Waziristan, and ex-Frontier Regions attended the jirga.

Speaking at the jirga, Members National Assembly Maulana Abdul Shakoor, Maulana Jamalluddin, ex-senators Maulana Muhammad Saleh Shah, Hameedullah Jan Afridi, Malik Shahnawaz Wazir and others said that no visible change had been seen in the lives of people despite passage of long time since the merger took place.

They said that they had always opposed the so-called integration of tribal areas into KP as they believed the plan was nothing but to scuttle the demand for a separate province and grab the natural resources here.

They said that the rulers had trampled the local traditions and customs, including the jirga system and introduced the British-era judicial systems, which further deteriorated the situation.

They said the local residents wanted a separate province for the people of tribal areas.

The jirga demanded immediate repeal of the 25th Constitutional Amendment, revival of the jirga system and reforms in the Frontier Crimes Regulation.