LAHORE: Malala Yousafzai demanded on Tuesday that the government of Pakistan take immediate steps to merge Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) as soon as possible.
The Nobel laureate said that the people of FATA were entitled to the basic human rights that people in other parts of the country enjoy. They have been deprived of those rights in the past few decades and this merger would equip them with those rights, she added.
She also urged Pakistanis to stand with the people of FATA to aid them in their struggle for the recognition of their rights.
Last week Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam – Fazl (JUI-F) Chief Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman met to discuss FATA reforms.
According to sources, JUI-F chief expressed his reservations over FATA reforms and the PM and COAS assured him that they would resolve his concerns. JUI-F chief also said that he would conditionally continue to support FATA-KP merger and would continue to hold further consultations over FATA Reforms Bill.
PM Also met with FATA supreme council last week and the latter announced its stance of maintaining a separate identity for FATA.
While attending a long march held in Islamabad on December 12, Jamat-e-Islami (JI) Chief Siraj-ul-Haq said that the people of FATA want the merger and demand the abolishment of Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR).
He also said that if the government fails to go ahead with the FATA merger, JI would stage a protest in Islamabad on December 31.
