PESHAWAR - Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Wednesday passed unanimous resolutions in favour of merging Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in the province as well as elimination of condition for foreign delegations to obtain a No Objections Certificate (NOC) from federal government before visiting KP.

The session was chaired by Speaker Asad Qaiser. The first resolution was presented by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) member Dr. Haider Ali, which was also signed by Sikander Khan Sherpao, Muhammad Ali Shah Bacha and Sardar Aurangzeb Nalota from Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

The resolution demanded the federal government to merge FATA in KP and give all resources and other facilities to the people of Fata. Senior Minister Sikander Sherpao of Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) said the time had come that we give all rights to tribal people, adding that Fata people were living with Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) law, which is a black law.

He further said this is 21st century and we should give all the rights to the Fata people which were available to other citizens of the country, adding that federal government had conducted a survey and the committee members visited all agencies of Fata and took the views of people, who favoured merging it in KP.

He said if Fata was merged into KP, it will form the second biggest province of the country and then all the stakeholders will recognise the mandate of the assembly and its people. Mufti Janan from Jamiat Ulama Islam (F) said JUI (F) was not in favour of the resolution as KP had no power and capabilities to raise voice for the people of Fata. 

“Our party has observations as the federal committee didn’t went to the common people of Fata who wants separate province where all the facilities are provided to them”, Mufti added.

Another resolution was also presented by Dr. Haider Ali of PTI. He said the assembly had passed a resolution against NOC condition for foreign delegates visiting KP but again the federal government did not allow British High Commission’s delegation to visit the province.

He added that peace prevailed in KP and the investors wanted to come to the province and invest here but the federal government was playing tactics and discouraging foreign investors to divert investment to Punjab.

Mufti Fazli Ghafoor of JUI (F) said the provincial government had spent more than three years in sit-ins and wasted the time of the people of KP, adding that PTI government failed to defend the rights of KP people. He said why in Council of Common Interest (CCI) meeting the KP chief minister and finance minister did not highlight these issues and why did they not boycott the meeting to fight for the people of KP. He added that CM KP and all the ministers were not attending the assembly session, adding that the KP people had given them vote to fight for their rights but the CM and the ministers were not sincere with the mandate of the KP people.