PESHAWAR: A protest rally was carried out on Monday by the leadership of Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) against the alleged discrepancies in the provisional census report and the delay in the merger of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
The protest was led by KP QWP Chairman Sikandar Hayat Khan Sherpao and the protestors were holding party flags, placards, and banners inscribed with slogans for KP-FATA merger and slogans against provisional census report.
QWP chairman said that conspiracies were being hatched against the merger and they would foil any attempt that undermines the merger of tribal areas with KP. He added that if the merger was further delayed, they would hold protests rallies in all the tribal agencies to mobilise tribesmen for their rights and march towards Islamabad.
The chairman demanded KP-FATA merger before the 2018 General Elections so that the elections can also be held FATA where people elected their own representatives.
“Those who are opposing the merger are not loyal with FATA and its people,” said Sherpao and added that short term arrangements would not be a solution but would further complicate the issues faced by the region.
The protestors said that the tribal people had been victims of terrorism and backwardness which badly affected their socioeconomic conditions. They added that they have no representation in the provincial assembly, or local bodies, where they can raise voice for their rights and are subjected to draconian laws of British era which need to be abolished now.
“QWP would leave no stone unturned to secure the rights of tribal people,” said the protestors.
On this occasion, KP QWP General Secretary Hashim Khan Babar and representatives of FATA lawyers’ forum were also present.
QWP leadership also rejected the interim report of national census 2017, especially the figures of population of the KP and tribal areas, which the party believes have been understated.
“The federal government has to rectify the mistakes in the interim census report,” said Sherpao and added that the government has decreased the population of tribal areas as well as of the people of KP.
He also said that QWP had expressed reservations over the census process and recorded its protest when the relevant staff was “gathering data on plain papers with pencils”, which made the process controversial right from the beginning. “Undermining of the population of the tribesmen was a sheer injustice which would deprive them of the state resources,” he concluded.
