JI's long-march on Islamabad for KP-Fata's merger on December 10

Jamaat-e-Islami, Fata chapter, on Sunday announced a long-march in favour of Fata's merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on December 10 from Bab-e-Khyber to Islamabad. JI Fata Amir Sardar Khan and other leaders, while addressing a press conference here at Jamrud Press Club, said that they would march on federal capital to force the government for early implementation of Fata reforms.
The protesters would also stage a demonstration outside National Press Club upon arrival to the federal capital followed by a sit-in at D-Chowk, they added. Fata chapter ameer Sardar Khan said that the long march would start from the historic Bab-e-Khyber in Jamrud and end at the Parliament House in Islamabad. They said that apart from top leadership of the Jamaat-e-Islami, a large number of tribesmen would also participate in the long march.
"We twice held protest sit-ins in front of the Governor House in Peshawar for Fata's merger. The KP governor pledged on both the occasions that he would expedite the merger process but the federal government is not serious in implementing the recommendations of the reforms committee. The government is deliberately delaying the implementation process only to appease its allies," Sardar Khan remarked.
The JI leaders said that they would also invite leaders and workers of other political parties to join the long march. He said the general elections were around the corner but ironically, the government had yet to take initiative to give representation to the people of the Fata in the KP Assembly through the 2018 elections.
Sardar Khan said the government should implement the report of the six-member committee that recommended the merger of the tribal areas with the province. "Strangely, the government hasn't implemented the report of its own committee," he said. The JI leader said the committee had presented its report in 2016, while the federal cabinet too approved it but it had been put in the cold storage to please a 'few' people. He said the JI and people of Fata would not tolerate further delay in Fata reforms.
The JI leader regretted that the Parliament made laws to make a disqualified prime minister as the ruling party's head, while the genuine demands of the millions of the Fata people were bypassed. He said a handful of people opposed the Fata reforms process.
JI leader held the federal government responsible for the prevailing situation in tribal areas. He said the National Assembly and the Senate had recommended the Fata-KP merger but the government was undermining Parliament. He said if tribal people didn't get representation in the KP Assembly through the next elections, then the KP-Fata merger plan would be delayed for the next five years. Talking about JI's stance after revival of Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal, Sardar Khan claimed that JI would not change its stance on Fata's reforms after the revival of the alliance.