Imran says government has non-serious approach to FATA reforms

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan was critical of the government calling its approach to FATA reforms non-serious and an insult to people of the region.

Khan took to Twitter on Tuesday and said the people of FATA had sacrificed so much but had not been given their full democratic rights.

Earlier on Tuesday, opposition parties staged a walkout in the National Assembly after the government failed to table the bill pertaining to reforms in the tribal areas.

Khan also demanded the government to immediately table a "full package of FATA reforms", which should include the abolition of the Frontier Crimes Regulation, extension of the Supreme Court and Peshawar High Court's jurisdiction to FATA and an amendment in Article 106 of the Constitution to allow an increase of seats in the KP Assembly to accommodate representatives from the tribal areas.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 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.