Waziristan gets no representation in KP’s new cabinet

WANA: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa caretaker cabinet consisting of nine ministers, two advisers and one special assistant was sworn in on Saturday as the tribal districts particularly the three Waziristan districts did not get any representation.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Ghulam Ali administered the oath to the members of the new caretaker cabinet in a ceremony at the Governor’s House in Peshawar.

KP Caretaker Chief Minister Muhammad Azam Khan formed his new cabinet, which included nine ministers, two advisers and one special assistant and four members of the previous cabinet have also been included in the fresh setup.

While not a single person from the three Waziristan districts was included in the cabinet, much to the disappointment of the people of the tribal districts.

Nadeem Wazir, district president of Jamaat-e-Islami from Lower South Waziristan, said that this was a big injustice to these areas where there was unrest and incidents of violence were happening every day, so under these circumstances it was necessary to have some representation in the provincial cabinet.

He expressed concern over the non-inclusion of people from Waziristan in the caretaker cabinet and said that the people of the tribal districts had been affected by military operations and they were yet to heave a sigh of relief due to an atmosphere of unrest.

Nadeem Wazir said though Fata was merged into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the residents of the tribal districts were still facing a host of problems.

He demanded the caretaker chief minister to take steps to remove the sense of deprivations among the residents of tribal districts, adding that at least two persons from the tribal districts should be appointed as ministers in the provincial cabinet. Usman, a political activist from North Waziristan, said the current cabinet was probably composed of people close to the Pakistan Democratic Movement.