PESHAWAR (APP): The politicians and lawmakers of mainstream political parties here Tuesday said the merger of Fata with Khyber Pakthunkhwa was the best solution in the prevailing situation to address the long standing problems and difficulties of tribal people.
ANP leader, Wajid Ali Khan said merger of FATA of KP was the best solution keeping in view the close horizontal linkages of the tribal agencies and frontier regions besides social, linguistic and cultural norms and tradition of tribesmen and people of Khyber Pakthunkhwa.
While commenting on the unveiled recommendations of Fata Reforms Committee (FRC), Wajid Ali Khan said the recommendation of merger of FATA with KP was the best available solution that would help address plight of tribal people besides years of neglect of tribal areas.
The ANP leader said most of the officers serving in Fata belonged to Khyber Pakthunkhwa who knows the customs, culture, history and traditions of people of tribal areas.
Wajid Khan who also served as Minister for Environment in last ANP regime hailed the recommendation of FRC about replacement of the existing draconian law of Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) with the new "Tribal Areas Rewaj Act" saying the extension of the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and High Court to FATA would provide speedy and inexpensive justice to litigants of tribal areas.
Referring to the Committee's recommendations regarding five years for transition phase and 10 years for achievement of development targets, the ANP leader said tribal people had suffered a lot during last 30 years and time has come to take quick decisions for their socio-economic development besides bringing Fata at par with developed parts of the country.
Wajid Ali Khan suggested special seats for tribal areas in KP Assembly. He hailed the recommendation of holding local government election in Fata next year, saying this would help resolve local disputes among tribals besides expediting pace of development at the grass root level there.
PPP former President KP Rahimdad Khan said any decision taken with the support and consensus of tribal people would be durable and lifelong.
He said time has come to abolish FCR and extend Supreme Court and Peshawar High Court jurisdiction to tribal areas.
PMLN leader and MPA Rushad Khan also hailed the recommendations of FRC about merger of FATA with KP and termed it a best available solution, saying time has come to bring Fata into mainstream.
He said the past regimes had overlooked Fata by did not giving focus on addressal of problems despite their immense sacrifices for the country.
The PMLN leader said the present elected Government accorded high priority to Fata by forming a high level committee to submit recommendations about development, plans and reforms for the socio-economic development of tribal people.
The PMLN leader said the implementation of the FRC recommendations would help mainstreaming FATA besides ending the poverty and years of neglect and suggested that opinion of tribal people should also be given priority.
The Committee had recommended to the government for allocation of 3 per cent funds in the National Finance Commission award for FATA and if do so Fata would get an additional Rs90billion against the present allocation of Rs 20 billion.
This huge amount would be used for rebuilding of the damaged infrastructure in addition to setting up educational, water, communication, forestry, agriculture, and health facilities there, he added.
Rushad Khan said recruitment of 20,000 Levies personnel for FATA which would work as agencies' police would help improve the overall law and order situation in tribal areas.