ISLAMABAD, Mar 15 (APP):Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Haji Ghulam Ali on Wednesday suggested Senate to constitute a committee for addressing concerns of people from tribal districts related to completion of the fresh census and delimitation of constituencies before holding the elections in the province.
Speaking here in the special commemorative session summoned to celebrate the golden jubilee of the Senate of Pakistan, he said there is a need to remove the sense of deprivation among the people of tribal districts. Being a constitutional head of the province, he said it is my responsibility to put forth the demands of the people from tribal districts who are asking to fulfill the commitment made with them at the time of merger.
The Governor presented the viewpoint of the people of tribal districts who recently protested in Islamabad and Peshawar and said their population was not counted accordingly during the last census as they had to move from their areas due to militancy there.
Moreover, the commitments made at the time of FATA’s merger into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after the 25th Constitutional Amendment were not met as per their view, besides reducing the number of National Assembly seats from 12 to six and eliminating of eight seats from the Senate.
The Governor said that it was their demand to defer the election till the completion of the online census so that they got representation in the assemblies in proportion to the population. He said that they (people of tribal districts) have warned of not allowing anyone to contest elections if their demand was not heeded to.
He said that it will be strange if the provincial assembly elections are conducted under the caretaker government on old constituencies, while the National Assembly elections will be held under the new provincial governments on new constituencies.
He said that law and order situation is also worsening in the province as law enforcers have been killed in recent attacks on census teams in Tank and Lakki Marwat.
The Governor asked the Senate Chairman to constitute a committee to look into these issues. He said that commitment on ex-FATA funds had not been honored by the center and the settled areas got the amount.
Earlier, the KP Governor appreciated Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Mufti Mehmood, Ghaus Bux Bizenjo and Abdul Wali Khan over unanimous approval of the 1973 Constitution. He said that it is now our mutual responsibility to steer the country out of the recent challenges.
