SARDAR SIKANDER SHAHEEN
ISLAMABAD: A 20-member delegation of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Defence visited North Waziristan’s Miranshah District on Tuesday, where it was briefed on the restoration of peace in Pakistan’s north-western tribal region through successful military action and socio-economic measures.
Chairman committee and Member National Assembly (MNA) from the ruling party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led the delegation.
The delegation was given detailed briefing on operation Raddul Fasaad and ongoing IBOs (intelligence-based operations), a statement from Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said.
The delegation was briefed about socio-economic projects for area uplifting, the statement said, adding that the delegation appreciated Pakistan Army’s efforts in bringing normalcy not only in the area but efforts for peace and stability in the country. The delegation paid rich tributes to martyrs for their supreme sacrifices in the line of duty, laid floral wreath at Yadgar-e-Shuhada and offered fateha, the ISPR statement said.
Once regarded as hub of terrorists, the erstwhile North Waziristan Agency (NWA) and its adjoining belt saw the elimination of terrorism with the launch of operation Zarb-e-Azab in June 2014 by Pakistan Army, when General Raheel Sharif was the Chief of Army staff (COAS).
Since then, successive military operations including operation Raddul Fasaad launched under the command of incumbent COAS General Qamar Javed Bajwa, backed by IBOs, have helped restore normalcy in the violence-plagued erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).
In a landmark move in May 2018, the 25th Constitutional Amendment that allowed FATA’s merger with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa was passed by Pakistan’s Parliament, and subsequently by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.
The amendment allowed reduction of erstwhile FATA seats in National Assembly from 12 to six (to be applicable from next general elections), and creation of 16 seats of erstwhile FATA in the KP Assembly (within one year of general elections).
Following FATA’s merger into KP, all the seven agencies of the FATA are now settled districts of KP—Bajaur, Mohmand, Khyber, Kurram, Orakzai, North Waziristan, and South Waziristan.
On May 6, 2019, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had issued election schedule on 16 seats of the KP Assembly merged from erstwhile FATA, where elections were held on July 20th.
The said 16 KP Assembly seats were: PK-100 Bajaur-I, PK-101 Bajaur-II, PK-102 Bajaur-III, PK-103 Mohmand-I, PK-104 Mohmand-Il, PK-105 Khyber-I, PK-106 Khyber-II, PK-107 Khyber-III, PK-108 Kurram-I, PK-109 Kurram-II, PK-110 Orakzai, PK-111 North Waziristan-I, PK-112 North Waziristan-II, PK-113 South Waziristan-I, PK-114 South Waziristan-II, PK-114 South Waziristan-II and PK-115 Ex-Frontier Regions.
