PESHAWAR-Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has asked the federal government to clear the confusion about Fata secretariat and governor’s special powers for the next five years.
Addressing a press conference at the Chief Minister House Monday, he said the provincial government has some reservations over the parallel system of governance after giving representation to Fata members in KP Assembly.
The chief minister said that the provincial government has welcomed the merger of Fata but if it takes five-year term and all the administrative authority lies with the governor after 2018 elections, then what will be its benefits.
He added that the provincial government believes in merger of Fata with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa but it should be clearly spelled out. Fata reforms committee report clearly suggests merger of Fata into Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa not only its partial mainstreaming, he added.
He said that the people of Fata will feel deviation from this recommendation and breach of trust and after five years there will still be confusion on its status. He also questioned the role of Fata MPAs.
Khattak stressed that according to this new system, Fata region will be out of the administrative authority of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa while provincial government will be answerable to governor in affairs of tribal areas.
He said that the reforms committee has contacted the provincial government just once about the merger. After that no one consulted the provincial government, he added.
He further said that Fata Secretariat should be dissolved and a separate cell of Fata should be constituted to clear the confusion. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa can negotiate the affairs with federal government in this regard, he added.
He said that soon they will write a letter to the prime minister about the merger of Fata in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Fata should be merged completely in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa like provincially administered tribal areas, he added.
Khattak said that in the next two days he will visit Punjab along with his cabinet to know the situation of Pakhtuns there. He also congratulated Peshawar Zalmi for winning the PSL trophy.