Government Considers Reversing Fata Merger, Says Fazl

JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman says the Centre is mulling the reversal of the 2018 merger of the former tribal areas into K-P.

The Pakistan government is considering reversing the Fata merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Maulana Fazlur Rehman said, in a development with major consequences for the seven former tribal districts and the fragile peace talks with the banned TTP.

Why the Fata Merger Question Is Back on the Table

The 25th Constitutional Amendment of 2018 abolished the centuries-old tribal status of Fata and merged the districts into K-P, extending the writ of the courts, police and parliament there. But security conditions in districts such as North and South Waziristan have deteriorated sharply, and the TTP ceasefire negotiations have made a full reversal of the merger one of the group's core demands. Fazlur Rehman's JUI-F has long opposed the speed and form of the merger, calling it a mistake that Pakistani institutions were not ready to absorb.

What Reversal Would Mean

Legal experts point out that undoing the merger would require another constitutional amendment - a two-thirds majority in both houses of parliament, plus provincial consent, since the merger itself altered K-P's boundaries.

• The TTP has set reversal of the Fata merger as a condition in talks
• A reversal needs a fresh constitutional amendment and profiling of FCR-era systems
• K-P's provincial assembly and hundreds of thousands of ex-tribal voters expect a say
• Analysts warn it could also unsettle provincial finances and the ex-Fata empowerment programmes

Opposition parties in K-P, which hold a majority in the provincial assembly, are expected to resist any central move to undo the merger, warning it would claw back hard-won citizen rights from millions of tribal residents.

Sources:

• Dawn
• The Express Tribune

FAQs

What is the Fata merger? It is the 25th Constitutional Amendment of 2018 that abolished Fata's separate tribal status and merged its seven districts into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Can the Fata merger be reversed? Yes, but reversing it requires a new constitutional amendment with a two-thirds majority in parliament and constitutional procedures involving the province.

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JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman says the Centre is mulling the reversal of the 2018 merger of the former tribal areas into K-P.

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