Report on Fata reforms forwarded to cabinet: SAFRON ministry

Ministry of Sates and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) on Wednesday stated that report on Fata reforms, which has also recommended merger of the tribal areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been forwarded to the federal cabinet and is awaiting a final decision.
According to a spokesperson for the Ministry of SAFRON, the Fata Reform Committee, headed by Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, tasked to finalise its report visited all the seven tribal agencies as well as held a separate meeting in Peshawar with representatives of the six Frontier Regions.
He said that the committee met a total of 3,525 tribesmen for consultation. Out of these 3,096 were Maliks and elders while 429 were lawyers, youth, tradesmen and members of tribal civil society organisations. In addition, the Reform Committee held separate meetings with Fata parliamentarians and experts. The committee spent more than 8 months in the consultation process, the spokesperson added.
He said that the consultative process continues by engaging tribesmen through the tools of media outreach, including the provision of a hotline, which records views of the tribesmen and shares them with the Fata Reform Committee on a weekly basis. So far, an additional 27,536 persons have given their opinion regarding different aspects of the reforms, he said, adding very clearly the committee has been talking continuously with the people of Fata and this conversation continues.
He pointed out that committee's report described the geopolitical positioning of Fata that was used by Britain as a "borderland" to protect British India against aggression. "There is no derogatory remark in this description," he added.
He further said that the committee also held four consultative meetings with Fata parliamentarians, adding in the first meeting, the committee met with 19 Fata parliamentarians on December 10, 2015 where the parliamentarians gave the committee a written memorandum containing seven points of advice.
The spokesperson further said that the parliamentarians gave the committee the right to choose the best future trajectory that Fata should take, including its mainstreaming. He said that the report was also placed before the Parliament where it was discussed threadbare. The report is still before the federal cabinet and a final decision is awaited, he added.