KHYBER: Fata Qaumi Jirga (FQJ) observed ‘black day’ on Wednesday to protest merger of erstwhile tribal areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on May 31 five years ago.

The event was organised at the historic Bab-i-Khyber in Jamrud. The members of FQJ, a group of anti-merger tribal elders and civil society activists, were holding black flags and banners inscribed with anti-merger slogans.

Prominent among the participants were FQJ chairman Malak Bismillah Khan, Malak Khan Mar Jan Wazir, Azan Khan Mehsud, Malak Mohammad Hussain, Nawabzada Fazal Karim, Malak Abdul Zahir and Malak Tamash Shilmani.

They demanded revival of traditional tribal jirga system and reversal of merger of former Fata with the province. They said that neither the promised Rs10 billion development fund was provided to merged districts nor the three per cent share was allocated to them in National Finance Commission award despite lapse of five years.

They alleged that the sole purpose of merger was to usurp unexplored natural resources worth billions of rupees of the region. They demanded constitution of a larger bench of Supreme Court to hear the petition against merger of Fata with the province.

MEETING: Afghan customs authorities and their Pakistani counterparts met at Torkham to address issues confronted by the trading communities and transporters on both sides of the border.

Additional Deputy Collector Muahhad Rizwan led the Pakistani delegation while Asmatullah, chief of Afghan customs at Torkham, headed his five-member delegation.

Sources said that the Afghan delegation objected to the repeated and prolonged checking of vehicles by security forces, Anti-Narcotics Force, NLC and custom appraisement staff at the border.

They said that it also complained that repeated entries at the Web Based One Custom (WEBOC) system of the empty containers was causing problems for Afghan traders.

The meeting discussed cross-border movement of ‘porter children’ involved in smuggling of some banned items. Both sides agreed to check the unregulated cross-border movement of those ‘minor’ smugglers.

Afghan authorities also requested for an increase in the number of patients going to Pakistan for treatment from 100 to 200 to which the Pakistani authorities responded as positive.

Published in Dawn, June 1st, 2023