ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Thursday welcomed a Supreme Court decision to accept a petition by the party’s chairman, Imran Khan, seeking orders for the merger of the tribal regions with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Province.
Ali Mohammed Khan, a PTI member of the National Assembly, told Arab News that his party wants “to bring the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in line with other parts of Pakistan, and that is why PTI approached to the court.”
PTI lawyer Baber Awan on Wednesday presented his party’s plea to the Chief Justice Saqib Nisar who accepted the petition for hearing.
Earlier, the Supreme Court’s registrar office raised technical objections to the petition, but after hearing the PTI’s response, Nisar rejected the concerns.
Pakistan’s FATA shares a 700-km border with Afghanistan. The tribal belt consists of seven tribal agencies and six frontier regions.
The areas have been targeted by militants, but the situation has improved in recent years after attacks by Pakistan’s military on terrorist hideouts.
PTI has been campaigning for the merger of tribal region with KP.
In June 2016, the FATA Reforms Committee proposed a five-year transition period for the areas’ merger with KP, but this has yet to be implemented.
The Pakistan government has formed an implementation committee on FATA reforms and pledged that FATA will be brought into the mainstream.
On Dec. 13, 2017, tribal elders and youth representatives met with the chief of the Pakistan Army, Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, to discuss implementation of the reforms.
Bajwa supported their demands and assured them that the military supports proposed FATA reforms.
Ali Mohammed Khan, a PTI member of the National Assembly, told Arab News that his party wants “to bring the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in line with other parts of Pakistan, and that is why PTI approached to the court.”
PTI lawyer Baber Awan on Wednesday presented his party’s plea to the Chief Justice Saqib Nisar who accepted the petition for hearing.
Earlier, the Supreme Court’s registrar office raised technical objections to the petition, but after hearing the PTI’s response, Nisar rejected the concerns.
Pakistan’s FATA shares a 700-km border with Afghanistan. The tribal belt consists of seven tribal agencies and six frontier regions.
The areas have been targeted by militants, but the situation has improved in recent years after attacks by Pakistan’s military on terrorist hideouts.
PTI has been campaigning for the merger of tribal region with KP.
In June 2016, the FATA Reforms Committee proposed a five-year transition period for the areas’ merger with KP, but this has yet to be implemented.
The Pakistan government has formed an implementation committee on FATA reforms and pledged that FATA will be brought into the mainstream.
On Dec. 13, 2017, tribal elders and youth representatives met with the chief of the Pakistan Army, Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, to discuss implementation of the reforms.
Bajwa supported their demands and assured them that the military supports proposed FATA reforms.
