KARACHI:Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazal) President Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Wednesday requested the government to clarify the constitutional position of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).
He further said the government should take a decision which satisfies the people of the tribal areas.
"Issues should be solved through negotiations and not through sit-ins. The parliament should not always be pressurised."
The JUI-F chief expressed support for the FATA supreme council and said the body must be consulted by the prime minister and parliament for the merger of the region with KP.
The government on December 12 failed to table a bill pertaining to FATA's merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, drawing the opposition's ire over the delay.
Lawmakers from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and those from FATA tore copies of the assembly agenda in protest over the delay and staged a walkout in the National Assembly.
MNA Shahabuddin, who is also a member of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) from FATA, protested over the change in the assembly agenda. He was joined by other lawmakers from tribal areas. The protesting members said the agenda included the FATA Reforms Bill and questioned why it was changed.
Sheikh Aftab Ahmed, minister for parliamentary affairs, said a debate on FATA reforms was temporarily postponed and the matter would soon be made part of the assembly agenda.
"There is further consultation required on the bill, which is why it was not tabled," Aftab explained.
Opposition Leader Khursheed Shah also criticised the government for putting the matter on hold and referred to the entire episode as a "joke".
"Another joke was played today. The matter is under process since the incumbent government came into power and it is beyond comprehension as to why the matter was excluded from the agenda after its inclusion," Shah said.
"The entire nation wants FATA to become a constitutional part of the country, but the government is merely passing its time in the parliament."
Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Sirajul Haq on Tuesday said his party would stage a sit-in in Islamabad if the government fails to go ahead with the merger of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).
"Residents of tribal areas want their rights, they want a merger with KP, and they want the abolition of Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR)," Haq said while addressing attendees of a long march in the federal capital's Faizabad vicinity.
He announced a protest in the federal capital on December 31 if the government fails to go ahead with the merger of FATA with KP.
"Residents of FATA are participating in a long march toward Islamabad, particularly the National Assembly with the basic objective of love for Pakistan and hatred for a system based on injustice, oppression, and FCR," he said.
The recommendations to bring FATA at par with the rest of the country were approved at the Cabinet meeting on FATA reforms on March 2.
Once FATA is made part of KP, the province's share in the National Finance Commission will increase, as three percent will be earmarked for the region.
The KP Assembly had adopted a resolution on December 14, 2016, in favour of merging FATA with KP that would help rehabilitate and reconstruct the infrastructure including roads, communications, power lines, water supply, education and health facilities.