Pakistan lower house approves merge of FATA with Khyber Pakhunkhwa

The much-awaited merger of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has been approved by the lawmakers at the national assembly on Thursday.

The 31st amendment bill was tabled by Law Minister Mahmood Bashir Virk in a historic session called after a parliamentary committee agreed upon the draft of the bill despite resistance from Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam-F and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party.

The bill was approved with the majority of votes. 229 members of the assembly voted in favor of the introduction of the bill while 11 others voted against it.

The bill seeks an amendment to Article 1 of the Constitution, which defines the country’s territory and mentions Fata as a separate entity along with other four provinces.

The bill also amends Articles 51 and 59, which specify the number of seats allocated to each of the federating units in the national and provincial assemblies.

Once the bill is passed by the Senate as well, the strength of the Senate will reduce from 104 to 96 members as Fata will no longer have separate representation. Likewise, the number of seats in the National Assembly will be cut to 336 from 342.

Meanwhile, the KP assembly will have 145 seats, including 115 general, 26 reserved for women and four for minorities. Fata will have 21 seats in the KP assembly, including 16 general, four for women and one reserved for non-Muslims "provided that elections to the aforesaid seats shall be held within one year after the general elections 2018", according to the bill. Articles 106 and 155 have also been amended.

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, while addressing the NA session after the bill was passed said that a committee worked for over two years and presented a report that had led to the constitution of the FATA implementation committee.

“The committee report was assessed by civil and military leadership including the army chief,” he said, adding that the bill was approved with a consensus of the government and opposition members.

“I am thankful especially to Khursheed Shah, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, and Farooq Sattar,” he said.

The treasury and opposition benches came together to jointly pass the bill, he said. 

“We needed a national consensus, which was needed and visible,” Abbasi remarked. 

Imran Khan, who had addressed the parliament right before Abbasi, had also congratulated parliament on coming together despite the differences between the ruling and the opposition parties.

"The tribal people want immediate justice, just like under the system we have in KP," he said.

But Khan, who had appeared in parliament after two years, soon deviated from the topic at hand in what seemed to be a bid to explain his prolonged absence from the house.

Much to the growing irritation of the treasury benches, Khan began by saying his party had staged the 2014 sit-in after parliament's failure to listen to its grievances.

"We did not get any response from the National Assembly and other institutions," he said.

"After a year [of waiting for a response] we held the sit-in," he said, explaining that "as a democrat" it was his right to stage protests and agitate for the people's rights.

"And then there was Panama — is asking for accountability something undesirable?" he asked amidst uproar, before chiding the lawmakers present for turning a blind eye.

"I am proud we brought a corrupt prime minister to justice for laundering money," he said. As the ruling party's lawmakers continued to protest vocally, he said at one point: "Have the courage to listen to me."

"A member sitting here [on the treasury benches] had once said to me: 'koi sharam hoti hai, koi haya hoti hai'. I see that that member is no longer here today," he said, referring to erstwhile foreign minister Khawaja Asif, who was recently removed from office for concealing assets.

"Standing against money laundering was the right thing to do," he said. "We are proud of our struggle."

The PTI subsequently walked out.

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F) and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) members had staged a walkout from the assembly when voting on clauses had started.

Source: Our correspondent besides Dawn, GEO, Pakistan Times