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| India-Pakistan |
| Tribal jirga demands separate province under SAFRON |
| 2008-05-06 |
| A 45-member member tribal jirga led by Sahibzada Malik Fareed Khan demanded during its meeting with top government officials a new province consisting of the seven tribal agencies under the States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) division. “We want a separate province of tribal agencies under a council just as Azad Jammu and Kashmir is working under the Kashmir Council,” Fareed Khan said while talking to Daily Times. “We want the minister for States and Frontier Regions to be a powerful person who controls this area.” The jirga held meetings with Federal Minister for States and Frontier Regions Najamuddin Khan and Interior Affairs Adviser Rehman Malik. Shariah law: Sources present in the meeting said that the jirga praised the new government’s policies, particularly the decision to abolish the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR), and demanded that Shariah laws be preferred in their area over other laws. It demanded that the Tribal Areas be declared tax-free zone and the government implement the Political Parties Act in FATA to include the people of the area into national politics. They also demanded the separation of the executive and the judiciary. Three members of the jirga — Haji Gul Orakzai, Haji Sherbat Khan and Haji Amin Afzal from the Orakzai Agency – boycotted the meeting with Rehman Malik because they disagreed with the demand for a separate province. Talking to Daily Times, they said that they had been “dodged” and did not accept the demand. Earlier, SAFRON Minister Najamuddin told reporters that the government had started consultations with the stakeholders on improving the situation in FATA and the recommendations would be forwarded to the cabinet for approval. The FATA Grand Alliance and the FATA Lawyers Forum on Monday protested against not including FATA parliamentarians in the jirga. In a speech after getting a unanimous vote of confidence from the National Assembly, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had announced that his new government would abolish the FCR. He had said that a two-member committee would work out the steps to implement the measure. “A comprehensive social and economic reforms package will be given to FATA, where backwardness and poverty have given rise to terrorism,” Prime Minister Gillani had said. |
| Posted by:Fred |