ISLAMABAD – Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman, Imran Khan, has hailed the passing of the FATA-KP merger bill by the National Assembly, terming it a victory for the country.
Speaking on the floor of the house on Thursday, the PTI chief expressed that the recently introduced legislation has filled the void in the tribal areas.
“Only time will tell that this is the right decision,” declared Imran Khan.
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He welcomed the passing of the bill by the Lower Chamber of the Parliament, saying that without the merger, there were chances of chaos in the area.
“We Pakistani’s participated in someone else’s war after 9/11. People of Fata were forced to migrate due to initiation of military operation. Adoption of Fata-KP merger bill is a big step towards alleviating reservations of tribal people”, stated Khan.
He also urged to hold local body polls in Fata at the earliest while warning that the political foes can resist the move; he demanded to constitute a committee to hear legitimate demands of tribal people.
The 67-year-old politician also expressed his views over the 2014 sit-ins and expressed that it was their legal right to stage protests for demanding scrutiny of four constituencies.
We are public representatives and it’s our duty to safeguard the rights of the people, added Khan.
On the occasion, the members from treasury benches tried to interrupt the speech of Khan, to which the PTI leader replied that the members should be tolerant enough to listen.
The lawmaker continued that his party trusted Almighty Allah as the sole umpire.
Imran Khan also took a sarcastic jibe at the former foreign minister, Khawaja Asif and remarked that once a member taunted him to ‘feel some shame’, however, he was not present in the house today.
FATA-KPK Merger
In a historic development, the National Assembly approved a much-awaited constitutional amendment bill regarding the merger of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with a landslide majority.
The 31st amendment bill was tabled by Law Minister Mahmood Bashir Virk in a landmark session called after a parliamentary committee agreed upon the draft of the bill despite resistance from Jamat-e-Uleman Islam-F and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party.
229 members of the assembly voted in favour of the introduction of the bill while 11 others voted against it.
