JI demands equal rights for tribal people

Lahore : Ameer, Jamaat e Islami, Pakistan, Senator Sirajul Haq, has called upon the federal government to grant the tribal people equal rights as available to the citizens in other parts of the country and not to adopt delaying tactics in this regard.

Addressing the participants of a sit-in of the tribal people comprising members of the assemblies and workers and leaders of different political parties from FATA in Islamabad on Monday, he said the tribal people had offered huge sacrifices for the country and the nation and they should not be treated unjustly.

The JI chief demanded prompt implementation of the Sartaj Aziz Committee report on Tribal reforms and the merger of the FATA with Khyber P. as recommended by the committee. He said that the government was backtracking from its commitment with the tribal people.

He said the past governments had been pitting the tribal people against each other but added that the tribal people were politically awake and any conspiracy to divide them would not succeed.

Sirajul Haq demanded end of the oppressive system in the tribal areas and said the tribal people should be treated as equal citizens and the status of FATA as buffer zone should end. The tribal areas should be provided facilities of education, health, employment and justice like the  people in the federal capital and other big cities. He said there was not a single university, medical college or any big hospital in the tribal areas.

He said that the oppressive FCR was the root cause of the tribal people’s problems as the Political Agents were enjoying unlimited powers and were not answerable to anybody.

He said the youth of the tribal areas had offered every sacrifice for the country’s defense but they were denied basic civic facilities.