Tribesmen rally to call for merger of Fata with KP

islamabad — Hundreds of people from Pakistan’s militancy-racked tribal areas rallied in Islamabad calling on the government to abolish colonial-era British laws and merge the semi-autonomous region with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) are still governed by a century-old legal code known as the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR).

Pakistan’s government has approved reforms abolishing the FCR and implementing national laws in the region along the border with Afghanistan, where militants once operated with impunity.

But the changes are being delayed by political squabbles as Pakistan gears up for a general election due sometime next year.

“We are here to press the government to abolish the FCR law and extend the jurisdiction of Pakistani courts to Fata,” Mian Iftekhar Hussain, one of the speakers, told people at the rally.

“More than 90 per cent of tribesmen also want to merge the tribal areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province,” Hussain said as up to 2,000 tribesmen shouted slogans such as “Go FCR Go,” and “We demand merger of Fata in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa”. —

AP Protesters and lawmakers from the tribal areas raise slogans against the government during the rally near parliament in Islamabad. —