PESHAWAR: Federal Minister for Information, Broadcasting, National History and Literary Heritage Barrister Syed Ali Zafar on Wednesday said that after the merger of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, everybody should strive to make the process successful.
Talking to media here after a joint meeting of the committees of federal and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments to facilitate the merger process, he said FATA's merger was a historic step of the century, as a big area was merged into the province. “We have to make this process successful.”
He said the package for facilitating the merger of FATA areas into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would be announced in a few days after a meeting in Islamabad.
He said during the fruitful meeting, all issues about the merger process were discussed in detail. The KP chief minister and other members of the provincial committee would attend the next meeting in Islamabad to finalize the package, he added.
He said the package would include judicial reforms, tax exemptions, administrative measures, infrastructure development, funds transfer matters and fulfillment of promises made with the people of FATA, he added. The details were being finalized by the sub-committees, he said.
The minister said after the next meeting of the committees, the caretaker government would lay down the guidelines for the next government, which would be helpful to take the merger process forward.
The minister said it was clearly mentioned in an article of the Constitution, that provincial assembly election in FATA areas would be held in a year. The Election Commission would carry out delimitation of constituencies and then elections would be held in those areas, he explained.
To a question, he said the caretaker government was totally impartial and would not be part of any blame game. “If somebody wants to talk to anybody, it is their right. We are doing our work and after completion of our constitutional period we will go back.”
To a question, he said the government was trying to resolve issues of FATA and the financial commitment which was made by the federal and provincial governments should be fulfilled.
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