Govt urged not to merge Orakzai into Hangu

PESHAWAR: FATA Tribal Youth Movement president Khiyal Zaman has asked the government to abolish the recent merging of their constituency, Orakzai, into Hangu district.

Speaking at a news conference in the Peshawar Press Club on Thursday, he along with other office-bearers said that the

new constituency of the Election Commission of Pakistan was not acceptable to them.

He said that according to the demarcation, Orakzai district had been included into Hangu, but added that the plan was not acceptable to the local population.

He said the list of constituencies issued by the Election Commission was an injustice.

He said that according to the new delimitation, the Election Commission had abolished six National Assembly seats in the newly merged tribal areas. “As promised during the merger, we demand that the seats of the MNAs

of the merged districts should remain the same for 10 years,” he said, adding that the government should let it be according to the old zoning.

He said the share of the merged districts in the NFC would be enhanced. He said the authorities failed to honor their commitment with them before merging their areas into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He said no development work had been done in Fata in terms of health, education and infrastructure up till now. He said that even today, the people of the erstwhile Fata were deprived of the necessities of life.

“We, Tribal Youth Movement, demand of the government and other stakeholders to take practical steps to alleviate the plight of people of Fata,” he said.