KHAR: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F leaders on Sunday rejected the federal government’s plan to merge Fata with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and threatened to launch a protest movement if any changes were ‘imposed’ on the tribal people.

They made the threat while addressing a public gathering here.

A number of students and teachers of both the religious seminaries and public educational institutions also showed up at the gathering, which was considered a public demonstration against the proposed reforms in the tribal areas.

Senior JUI-F leaders, including its Fata head Mufti Abdul Shakoor, Bajaur emir Maualna Abdur Rahseed, Haji Said Badshah, Mufti Mohammad Ijaz Shinwari, Qari Mustafa and Ahmed Zeb Khan Advocate addressed the gathering and expressed their grave concerns over the proposed reforms in the tribal areas.

They claimed that the Fata reforms committee had violated its mandate to only suggest recommendations for the political mainstreaming of Fata, saying what the committee proposed was not acceptable to the tribesmen.

The speakers said the JUI-F wanted that all the changes in Fata should be introduced in the line with the wishes of majority of residents. They asked the government to delay implementation of the reforms in Fata until all stakeholders, including tribal elders and political and religious parties were taken into confidence on the matter.

“We request the federal government, especially the prime minister, to stop implementation of the reforms until every stockholder is taken on board, otherwise the JUI-F would start an agitation campaign across Fata,” threatened Abdul Shakoor.

However, the JUI leaders said the party would continue its struggle to replace the current colonial governance system with the Islamic laws instead of extending the country’s regular laws to the tribal region.

Rejecting the plan to merge Fata with KP, the JUI leaders said amalgamation of tribal areas with the province would further increase the problems of the tribal people. They pointed out that the KP province was already facing crisis and cannot bear the burden of over 10 million tribal people.

Reiterating their demand for a separate province for Fata, they said that the option, if implemented, would be game changer for the region as its inhabitants would then be able to use their enormous natural resources to their benefit.

Published in Dawn, January 9th, 2017