ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has provided a much-needed thrust to Fata reforms process, announcing immediate abolition of Agency Development Fund and giving a timeframe for the local bodies’ polls.
Speaking in the National Assembly on Wednesday, he also announced that the process of bringing the tribal areas into the national mainstream will be completed in next four weeks, before the end of PML-N government’s tenure.
“All formalities in consultation with parliamentary leaders of political parties to implement the Fata reforms will be completed before end of the tenure of current National Assembly on May 31,” he said while speaking at the fag end of proceedings.
“The people of Fata [Federally Administered Tribal Areas] will get rid of Agency Development Fund from today (Monday),” the prime minister announced.
The process for mainstreaming Fata in the light of recommendations of the committee would be completed within the next four weeks time (before May31), with consultation with all the opposition parties and the stakeholders, Abbasi held.
“All institutions of the country are committed to bring Fata into political mainstream,” he said, adding that there were no two opinions over this issue.
The prime minister expressed the hope that all political parties will support implementation of the reforms. “I will meet parliamentary leaders of all political parties in the next couple of days to discuss Fata reforms,” he said.
He shared with the House that the reforms committee had taken important decisions with regard to the implementation of reforms in Wednesday’s meetings which would further expedite the process.
PM Abbasi said local bodies elections in Fata will be held by October this year so that the people living in those areas could get their representation.
Similarly, he said timeframe for elections of provincial and National Assembly seats will be decided after consultation with all political parties.
The modalities for the election process of the parliament and provincial assemblies would also be finalised in consultation with all the political stakeholders so as to avoid any controversy, he said, adding the leader of opposition as well as all the parliamentary leaders would be taken into confidence over the implementation of Fata reforms.
The prime minister also mentioned that jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and the high court had already been extended to Fata.
Acknowledging the sacrifices of the personnel of the law enforcement agencies, civilians and the locals, the prime minister said Fata mainstreaming should be completed at the earliest as all the political parties and the people of Pakistan were on one page over the issue. He stressed that the mainstreaming process was a need of the Fata people as well as the rest of Pakistan.
The prime minister said in terms of development, Fata would be brought at par with other parts of the country and for that purpose, in addition to the current allocations, Rs1,000 billion would be required during the next 10 years. The government was committed to provide all required funds for that purpose, he added.
“The Fata Reforms Implementation Committee has decided to spend Rs1 trillion in the tribal areas over the next 10 years and this will be in addition to the annual development budget. The purpose is to develop tribal areas at par with rest of the country,” the PM said.
“The matter will be taken up at the next meeting of Council of Common Interests (CCI) and I hope we will get it approved,” he added.
The prime minister visited North Waziristan Agency with Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Monday, where he inaugurated the newly-constructed Miranshah Market Complex and Ghulam Khan Trade Terminal as part of the Central Trade Corridor.
PM Abbasi said on the occasion that these socioeconomic projects were just the beginning and many more such projects were in the pipeline for FATA, in addition to the ones which had been completed or were in progress across tribal areas.
On April 13, the Senate approved a bill extending the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and Peshawar High Court to FATA.
The Supreme Court and High Court (Extension of Jurisdiction to Fata) Bill 2017, which was passed by the National Assembly in January, is one of the reforms paving the way for an eventual merger of the tribal areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
JAVAID-UR-RAHMAN/Agencies