JAMRUD, Pakistan: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi Monday said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)-led federal government was resolved to uplift the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) at par with other parts of the country, to fulfill the commitment made by Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
While addressing the opening ceremony of Third Governor’s FATA Youth Festival at Jamrud Sports Complex in Khyber Agency, the prime minister said the government was in the process of enacting legislation to replace Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) with the laws of Pakistan.
The prime minister said the legislation was in final phase as the government desired to accomplish the process with consensus.
“This is not politics. This is need of the hour. This is the commitment made by Quaid-e-Azam which needs to be unfilled,” the prime minister remarked.
Khaqan said the expertise demonstrated by FATA youth at the festival, evidenced that they were in no way lesser than youths from other parts of the country.
Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said the peace being enjoyed today in FATA was in consequent to the sacrifices by the security forces personnel, civil administration and the people of the tribal areas.
The minister said at one time, the elimination of terrorism from FATA looked to be an impossible task but the government achieved the objective by bringing all stakeholders together to purge the area of the scourge.