Tribal lawmakers oppose move to merge Fata with KP

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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FATA should be allowed to become a separate province…if thats what people want.

Tribal lawmakers oppose move to merge Fata with KP | DAWN.COM

ISLAMABAD: Parliamentarians from tribal areas have taken strong exception to a resolution adopted by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly asking for merger of Fata with the province.

Condemning the resolution, they said that only people of tribal areas had the right to decide about future of Fata. They criticised the Awami National Party and said it had always betrayed the Pakhtun.

They said the tribals knew who bargained for their blood. The self-declared representative of Pakhtun nation, the ANP, did not utter even a single word against military operations and atrocities perpetrated against them, they added. Rather, the so-called nationalists extended full support to these cruelties. Senators Haji Khan Afridi, Hilal Rehman and Engineer Malik Rashid Ahmad and MNAs Zaffar Beg Bethani and Kamran Khan and other parliamentarians repeated their demand for a separate province.

“The ANP government during their four-year rule in the province has done nothing which could be a source of pride for the Pakhtun nation. The ANP can no longer befool people of tribal areas. Only the people of Fata will decide about their future,” leader of the joint Fata parliamentary group Hamidullah Jan Afridi said in a statement here on Tuesday.

He said the resolution had greatly hurt the feelings of tribals. It had led to indignation and unrest amongst them, he observed. It appeared that people of KPK and tribal areas were being pushed towards collision through a planned conspiracy, he feared.

Mr Afridi said the provincial assembly had neither a right nor power to accept or reject a resolution with respect to tribal areas without the consent of the latter.

He said the provincial government should rather plan for creation of Hazara province and construction of Kalabagh Dam, try to find out how was the Bannu Jail broken, explain rampant corruption by the government, rehabilitate displaced people from Fata and provide royalty to tribal areas from the Warsak Dam project.

Mr Afridi criticised the attitude of other political parties and expressed surprise over the role of Pakistan Peoples Party on the issue. On the one hand, the PPP amended the ancient laws, Frontier Crimes Regulation, fulfilling the long-running demand of Fata people while, on the other, they supported an absurd resolution for merging Fata with the KPK, he said.

The Fata parliamentary leader further said the ANP had only 4 per cent support in tribal areas. How was it possible that a minority decided about the future of a majority, he asked.

He said tribal people would not backtrack from their demand for a separate province.

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Re: Tribal lawmakers oppose move to merge Fata with KP

I personally think FATA should be a separate province, but it would be a good idea to ask the people maybe though a referendum or consulting their law makers.

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Re: Tribal lawmakers oppose move to merge Fata with KP

From what I have heard, even tribal people hate the ANP and don't want to have to do ANYTHING that makes them getting controlled by the racist nationalists.

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Re: Tribal lawmakers oppose move to merge Fata with KP

Correct......things made worse by IDP treatment in KP area.

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Re: Tribal lawmakers oppose move to merge Fata with KP

a referendum should decide whether a separate province is what everyone wants, bring every on the same platform and let people of FATA decide, rather than imposing their decision on them. Also, Tribal leaders should also be given a chance to represent in KP assembly.

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Re: Tribal lawmakers oppose move to merge Fata with KP

If new provinces are carved out of Punjab for the sake of better management, why KPK should have added responsibility of managing Fata?

Fata is a dynamically different region and it should be treated so. Fata should be made a province but nothing will work until an out-of-the-box security, political and management system is put in place. Fata as a province cannot work as Sindh as a province.

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Re: Tribal lawmakers oppose move to merge Fata with KP

Everyone wants a different entity and identity these days. But will it solve their problems? Definitely not. At present, making new provinces will be like creating a few hundred top jobs for politicians and bureaucrats and that's it. If we forget that the overall economic performace of the country will still be the engine of prosperity for every province, then create a thousand provinces and each one of them will meet a fate like Balochistan and KPK to an extent.

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Re: Tribal lawmakers oppose move to merge Fata with KP

I agree, creating more provinces somehow brings more burden on the nation, more provinces means Pakistan treasury will have to bear more expenses for God knows how many chief ministers, governors e,t,c. Also, provinces should be only made if it means better administration, new provinces shouldnt be carved out on the basis of ethnic and lingusitic basis. I doub,t if PPP has taken this initiative, because they want to improve their governance, its more like a point scoring thing for them and I think after Seraiki province, everyone will now start demanding their own province, which I'm afraid might lead to political turmoil.

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Re: Tribal lawmakers oppose move to merge Fata with KP

***"At the same time, there is the proposal for Fata to be given the status of a full-fledged province. Demands for Fata being turned into a province have come from the MNAs belong to Fata and the residents of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas appear to be enthusiastic about it.

The demand for provincial status for Fata is based on solid grounds, because the region has a sizable area, a significant population and natural resources which have largely remained untapped so far. If Fata is turned into a province, the corrupt system of political agents will come to an end at last, as the residents of the area have always wanted. An end to the special status of Fata will end the region’s power vacuum, which has been a source of problems which resulted in the area becoming a breeding ground for international and local terrorist groups. The tribal areas will come into the mainstream of Pakistani society if Fata is made a province. From being the “Wild West of Pakistan,” Fata will become a regular part of the country.

For many years now we have been hearing about the urgency of mainstreaming Fata. However, the government did nothing to bring about this change. Mainstreaming of the area will be a milestone in Pakistan’s political history, and a process for that mainstreaming should be started immediately. It is time Fata was turned into a new province."

Make Fata a province - Naila Aman Khan***

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Re: Tribal lawmakers oppose move to merge Fata with KP

It would make sense to make FATA a province, Hazara and Gilgit Baltistan as well. With the passage of time even if PPP wants it or not Sindh will also need to be divided because with the increase in population it will start getting more and more difficult to manage it. It does not matter if the same ethnicity lives in different provinces, in Afghanistan Most of the Central, Southern and Eastern provinces are pashtun dominated. If they want to they can merge all of them, but smaller divisions improve the governance. See the example of India who have divided their provinces over the passage of time, I think the overall impact has been good for the country.

The only issues the government will have to see is the division of resources between the different units, and the economic condition of the country as finances will be required to run and sustain the provinces.