PESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan has said that merger of Fata with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will eradicate menace of terrorism in the region.

He was addressing a press conference following suicide attacks in Mohmand Agency and Peshawar on Wednesday.

“Objectives of Operation Zarb-i-Azb and National Action Plan can be achieved if Fata is merged with KP,” Imran said, adding that the issues of Fata needed to be resolved as soon as possible.

He said that the decade-long conflict had ruined Fata and badly affected KP too. He said that the tribal area needed mainstreaming because terrorism was infiltrating into settled areas of the province from Fata.

“Further delay in the merger process would allow terrorism to take roots in the vacuum that currently exists in the region,” Imran said, adding that the repercussions of the slow progress would affect Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in particular and the country in general.

Imran also visited Hayatabad Medical Complex to enquire after the injured persons of the suicide blast.

Published in Dawn February 16th, 2017