RECORDER REPORT

PESHAWAR: Participants of a consultative meeting here demanded allocation of funds for initiating developmental schemes in the militancy affected tribal districts.

The speakers in a second Fata consultation meeting organized here on Sunday by the Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) said that the government should immediately announce packages for the development and uplifting of the tribal areas.

Sardar Hussain Babak of ANP said that If Karachi alone can be allotted Rs 50 billion in the mini-budget then why not the eight new tribal districts?

He said that the tribal people had been deprived of their rights for over seventy years of Pakistan. To address their grievances, an amount of Rs 100 billion should be allocated in the NFC awards immediately to initiate mega-projects in the region.

Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf’s (PTI) Member National Assembly (MNA) Iqbal Afridi said PTI would take steps to abolish the interim regulation in the tribal areas, as this is merely a re-branding of the draconic Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR). He said that the government has created a committee under the leadership of Arbab Shehzad to address the grievances of the tribal people.

Senior legal experts and former MNA Latif Afridi said that the political consensus that led to the 25th amendment must be activated to continue the process of mainstreaming the region.

He said that this should not be viewed as a step against the government, but a step with the government to solve a long-standing issue.

Senior Journalist and analyst Dr Ashraf Ali lauded the timely efforts of CRSS and added that civil society and the media must play a crucial role in providing equal rights and opportunities to the people of the tribal belt.

The conference also featured Jamaat-e-Islami (JI)’s former MNA Haroon Rasheed, Dr Noreen Naseer, ANP’s Nisar Mohmand, PPP’s Changez Khan, senior journalists and lawyers.

They stressed that powers should be transferred from officers to elected representatives, so that democracy can take root and the region can develop.

They also recommended that the quota for tribal students should be extended for another 10 years, that the region should receive royalties for electricity generation and mining and that the land limitation should be suspended for a period of three years to uplift the area.