ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Speaker National Assembly Raja Pervez Ashraf has said that Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) will always play its Constitutional role for the welfare of the people of tribal areas.
Talking to tribal elders who along with the Federal Minister for Overseas and Human Resource Developments Sajid Hussain Turi met him in Islamabad, Raja Pervez Ashraf said that PPP is aware of the unprecedented sacrifices and problems of the tribal people.
The Speaker said that Pakistan People’s Party has always solved the problems of its tribal brothers and sisters.
In the meeting, problems faced by the merged districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the promises made at the time of merger were discussed.
The tribal delegation consisted of more than 150 elders from all the newly merged districts.
“The tribal people are losing rather than benefiting from the merger of FATA. The aim of FATA integration should have been reform, reconstruction and development in war-torn areas. After the merger of FATA, funds from tribal areas were used in other districts of the province,” the tribal elders said.
The tribal elders said that the census was conducted when the tribal people were displaced from their areas due to terrorism, adding that National Assembly seats in tribal areas have decreased due to wrong census.
They demanded that census should be conducted again in the tribal areas as at the time of merger, the opinion of the tribal people was not taken under consideration.
In addition, they demanded that funds earmarked for FATA and quotas in colleges and universities should be restored for 10 years.
In his remarks, Sajid Hussain Turi has said that the need of the hour is to end the deprivations of the tribal districts. He said that construction and development works should be done rapidly in the tribal areas so that they can be included in the national agenda.
The minister said that the tribal people have suffered the most against terrorism. He noted that the promises made to the tribal people at the time of merger have not been fulfilled.
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