BAJAUR AGENCY - Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Deputy General Secretary Murad Saeed said that merger of Fata with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa was the best and only way to improve socio-economic conditions of the tribesmen.

He also called for ensuring Fata-KP merger before the upcoming general elections.

Our party believes that integration of the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas with KP was an effective solution to end the sense of deprivation among the tribesmen who, he said, had been deprived of basic rights since independence.

Murad Saeed was addressing a public meeting. He added that the PTI would make all out efforts to ensure the merger of Fata with KP before the 2018 general elections to enable the tribal people to send their representatives to the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.

Large numbers of party workers and people from different areas attended the meeting, which was one of the largest public gatherings in the agency.

Murad Saeed said that constitutionally, Fata was part of Pakistan and the tribesmen were the most peaceful, civilised and patriotic citizens who always played great role for the country’s larger interests.

But unfortunately, the PTI leader said that the rulers never acknowledged the sacrifices of tribesmen as they did nothing for their welfare.

He slammed the federal government for ignoring tribal areas in socio-economic development schemes and claimed that the incumbent government had not executed any mega public project in any part of Fata during its tenure. He also flayed the PML-N government for not fulfilling its commitment to replace the colonial governance system (FCR) in the tribal areas and merge Fata with KP.

He pointed out that the PML-N government had announced in 2013 to introduce the country’s regular laws in the tribal areas within a year when it came into power at the centre. However, he said that the government failed to even introduce a single reform in tribal areas during its 4 years and 10 months tenure.

The PTI leader alleged that undue delay in implementation of reforms in the tribal areas showed that the PML-N government was not sincere to ensure basic rights to the tribesmen. He also criticised the PML-N government for ignoring the tribal areas in China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project, adding that any tribal agency had not been included in the project.

The PTI leader came hard on JUI-F leader Maulana Fazl-ur-Rahman and PkMAP leader Mehmood Khan Achakazi for opposing the merger of Fata with KP. He said that both the leaders had no contribution to resolution of the problems and hardships of the tribesmen, adding that they had always worked against the interests of the tribal people. He said that merger of Fata with KP was the top most priority of PTI and the scheme would be done within 2 months if the PTI came into power in the centre.

He also claimed that PTI would sweep the general elections 2018 in centre and all the provinces while Imran Khan would be the next prime minister of Pakistan.

Saeed also called for abolishing unnecessary security check posts in the tribal areas and releasing the missing persons.

The PTI local leaders including Anwar Zeb, Khan Gul, Zafar Khan, Dr Khalil, Usman Mamoundzai, Said Ahmed Jan, Saleem Khan, Asadullah Khan, Gul Dad Khan and others also spoke on the occasion.

The speakers called the FCR mother of all problems and troubles in the tribal areas and said that the tribesmen would not achieve their goals of development and prosperity unless Fata was merged with KP. They said that PTI had become the most popular political party in the agency as people were joining the party every day in large numbers.

Anwarullah Khan