ISLAMABAD: A Federal Cabinet meeting on Thursday discussed the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) Reforms Committee report which proposes the integration of FATA with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). The decision on the proposal has been deferred for a few days.
Addressing a joint press conference, State Minister for Frontier Regions Lt Gen (r) Abdul Qadir Baloch said that the proposal for integration of FATA with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) was supported by almost all the cabinet members. Baloch was flanked by State Minister for Information Marriyum Aurangzeb.
Baloch said that as per the proposal, FATA would be integrated with KP in five years and 10-year development projects would be launched.
He said the proposal also called for allocating three percent of the resources from the divisible pool for development for FATA, but this would be taken up in Council of Common Interests (CCI) for approval.
Baloch said that Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) representative Akram Durrani informed the cabinet that his party was holding a jirga in the coming days and its input should also be included. Baloch said JUI-F and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) were one on the issue.
The minister said that the FATA Reforms Committee visited all the seven agencies of FATA and held 16 meetings with notables of FATA, journalists, students, business community, lawyers and political parties and the overwhelming majority supported the idea of integration of FATA.
He said the cabinet had deferred the final decision on the proposal as the prime minister wanted to take all allies on board. He added that the committee would approach JUI-F and PKMAP in a few days to get their final input.
Baloch said that all the 19 members of parliament belonging to FATA, including 11 MNAs and eight senators had given written approval for merger of FATA with KP.
He said that it was the right of the people of FATA to enjoy their democratic rights, adding that similar agencies had also existed in Balochistan in the past. Marriyum said that prayers were offered at the start of the cabinet meeting for the victims of PK-661 crash and Regent Plaza Hotel fire.
She said it was a historic cabinet meeting, as in the past, such promises were made to the people of FATA but no concrete steps were taken She said credit for giving constitutional rights to the people of FATA would go to the Nawaz-led government, adding that after thorough consultations with the stakeholders, the report had been taken up by the cabinet. Marriyum said that Baloch played an important role in preparation of the report and the prime minister praised the contribution of both Sartaj Aziz and Baloch.
She said with the approval of the cabinet, the people of FATA would see the day for which they had been waiting for ages.
