Fazal ur Rehman disagrees with immediate merger of FATA with KP
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ISLAMABAD: Maulana Fazlur Rehman — who is widely blamed for stalling measures aimed at mainstreaming the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) — told the National Assembly on Wednesday that the government could not decide to merge the tribal areas with Khyber Pakhtunkwa without first holding a referendum to ascertain the will of people.
He said his party’s stance had been the same since 2012, when the KP assembly passed a resolution seeking a merger with Fata, which caused some consternation.
He recalled that in the wake of the resolution, a jirga was convened in Peshawar in July 2012, where it was agreed that there were a few options; the tribal areas could either be merged with KP, given the status of a province, or that existing rules should be amended to get rid of the draconian laws that prevail there.
He insisted that all three options had merit, adding that his party could not take a unilateral decision to back or oppose any of these options, especially at a time when military operations had uprooted a large chunk of the population.
