PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s (KP) Assembly on Sunday passed a bill to merge the province and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).
The bill, tabled by Law Minister Imtiaz Shahid, passed with 92 votes in favor and seven against. FATA will be represented in KP’s Assembly.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam activists protested outside the assembly. Police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd. Several protesters and policemen were injured.
Chief Minister Pervez Khattak said it is a moment of happiness for the people of FATA as they are now rid of the colonial-era Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR), which “deprived the tribesmen of their rights since the inception of Pakistan.”
The leader of the opposition in KP’s Assembly, Maulana Lutfur Rehman, said the people of FATA had not been properly consulted about the merger. “A foreign agenda is being forced upon us,” he added.
KP Assembly passes FATA merger bill
KP Assembly passes FATA merger bill
- Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam activists protested outside the assembly
- Several protesters and policemen were injured
Afghan Taliban says Pakistan bombs Kabul in fresh escalation
KABUL: The Afghan government said on Friday that Pakistan had carried out fresh strikes on Kabul and several other provinces.
Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a post on X that Kabul, Kandahar, Paktia, Paktika, and some other areas, were targeted.
Pakistan has killed at least 641 Afghan Taliban operatives and injured more than 855 in the ongoing conflict between the two sides since last month, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Wednesday.
Islamabad has said its airstrikes, which have at times directly targeted the Afghan Taliban government, are aimed at ending Kabul’s support for militants carrying out attacks on Pakistan. The Taliban has denied aiding militant groups.
Fresh clashes between the two neighbors began on Feb. 26 after Afghanistan’s border forces launched attacks against Pakistani military installations. Kabul said the attack was in retaliation for Islamabad’s airstrikes earlier in February. Both forces have since then engaged in the worst fighting between them in decades.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have remained strained since the Afghan Taliban seized power in August 2021. Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks across the country in recent months that it blames on militants it alleges are based in Afghanistan. Kabul denies the allegations and insists that its soil is not used by militant groups for attacks against other countries.
While Afghanistan has voiced the desire for dialogue, Pakistan has repeatedly ruled out talks, saying it will continue targeting militant hideouts through “Operation Ghazab lil Haq” until Kabul desists from supporting militants.
