Elders announce campaign against Fata merger

JAMRUD: Tribal elders from various di­stricts on Monday announced to launch a protest campaign against the merger of what used to be Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

Several tribal elders, including Malik Bismillah Khan Kukikhel, Malik Muhammad Hussain Afridi, Malik Khan Marjan Wazir, Sardar Azghar Afridi, Malik Tamash Shalmani, Malik Waris Khan, Malik Abdul Razaq, Azam Khan Mehsud, Noor Zaman Afridi and Nawabzada Fazal Karim made the announcement while addressing a press conference at the Jamrud Press Club.

They said that a case against the Fata merger had been filed in the Supreme Court, but that was not being heard and demanded that the case should be heard as soon as possible.

Bismillah Khan alleged that FATA was merged with KP forcibly. “Without consulting us, our area was merged into KP, which is itself a financially weak province, and our resources were grabbed,” he believed. The elder said they would stage a rally and sit-in against the merger on March 9, adding roads would be blocked in the protest.