Bajaur elders oppose FATA-KP merger, demands separate province for FATA
KHAR, 08 February: The Utmankhel and Tharkhani tribe elders of Bajaur Agency on Wednesday opposed the demand for Fata merger into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and demanded status of a separate province for the tribal areas.
The Utmankhel and Tharkhani tribe elders expressed pleasures over government decision for dropping Fata reforms and welcomed the federal government decision of dropping Fata reform from the agenda of the federal cabinet meeting.
The tribal elders including Malak Hafeez-Ur-Rehman, Malak Abdul Nasir, Malak Muhammad Yar and others hold a news conference in Khar press club and said that the Fata reforms committee in its report considered the opinions of only a few people. They said that tribal never want to merge FATA into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. They demanded separate province status for tribal areas and Sharia law to replace FCR law. They hoped that Jamaat-e-Islami Sirajul Haq would also support their demand.
The tribal elders thanked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Mahmood Khan Achakzai for excluding Fata reforms from cabinet meeting agenda.
On the occasion, the tribal elders demanded of the government to allocate Rs. 3000 billion special packages for the rehabilitation of the destroyed infrastructure, Fata inclusion in CPEC, quota in government jobs, an increase in quota for Fata students in engineering colleges and universities and scholarships for Fata students.
