PESHAWAR -  Jamaat-e-Islami Fata chapter’s deputy head Zarnoor Afridi alleged that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was making western border with Afghanistan ‘controversial’ by deliberately delaying implementation of reforms in Federally-Administered Tribal Areas as approved by federal cabinet.

In a press statement issued on Saturday, Afridi said that the Prime Minister should not play in the hands of those who do not want to see mainstreaming of tribal areas because they were out to bulldoze the process of reforms in the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), which, he alleged, was actually an Indian agenda, adding that “everyone knows those who are opposing the reforms in the tribal belt”.

He said while referring to the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) Chairman Mehmood Khan Achakzai that “Even one of them had recently declared Fata as part of Afghanistan”. He added that the Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa should stress for implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP), adding that Fata reforms was part of the plan.

He said that like other countrymen, tribal people are also true Pakistanis and it is the right time to bring them into the national mainstream to end their deprivation. Afridi said that the tribal people demanded immediate provision of their constitutional, legal and fundamental rights, which, he said, could only be possible if Fata was made part of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government at the centre proved being anti-Fata, as it announced no share for Fata in the National Finance Commission (NFC) award and no relief in the budget. He said that people of Fata had been facing numerous challenges since long. He alleged that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was deceiving the tribesmen by making empty promises with them.

Afridi added that under the Frontier Crimes’ Regulations (FCR), every fundamental right to the tribal people had been denied because it was a draconian law unacceptable to them. He added that rulers were responsible for what the tribal people were facing today and therefore it was the right time to decide the fate of Fata and end the status-quo there.

He called upon Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa to ask the PML-N government to implement Fata reforms immediately and announce merger of the tribal areas with KP, which he said was the only solution to all existing issues in the region.