Tribesmen launch party to declare Fata as province

PESHAWAR, June 15: The Muttahida Qabail Party, a newly launched political party of tribesmen, has demanded of the government to declare Federally Administered Tribal Areas as a separate province.




The party was formally launched in a well-attended meeting at Peshawar Press Club here on Tuesday. The chairman of the new party, Malik Habib Orakzai, said that they launched the party to initiate struggle for restoration of peace in tribal areas, attainment of basic human rights of tribesmen and economic and social development of the area.




He demanded of the government to declare Fata as a separate province. "Since the inception of the country successive governments have never bothered to give due rights to tribesmen. The huge funds allocated for uplift of Fata have also not been spent on development of the neglected areas," he said.




Tribal elders including Malik Arab Afridi, Malik Said Abbas and Attaullah also spoke on the occasion.




"We launch the political party to play an effective role in the national politics for brining a positive change in the destiny of tribesmen and hold all the usurpers accountable, who always manage to reach the National Assembly and Senate but never bother to serve their constituents," Mr Orakzai said.




Rejecting the concerns of the United States and its allies about the presence of terrorists in the tribal belt, he said that majority of tribesmen were peace loving people but a handful elements brought a bad name to them.




He said that after 9/11, through a well-planned conspiracy innocent tribesmen were killed, maimed and deprived of their properties.




Mr Orakzai also demanded immediate halt to military operations in tribal areas. He said that Fata parliamentarians had failed to play role for development of the areas as they served their own interests.




He said that President Asif Ali Zardari had announced some incentives for the tribesmen, including political independence, but the commitment was yet to be materialised.




Mr Orakzai said that government should ensure proper justice system in the tribal areas, announce holding local bodies' elections, provide jobs to unemployed youths, change the Levies Force into tribal security force and approve quota for tribesmen in the armed forces.




The MQP leader also demanded compensation to the families, who had suffered casualties in the operations and registration of the internally displaced persons of various agencies.




"If the government launches operation in North Waziristan we will strongly oppose it," he threatened.