Islamabad, (Pakistan Point News - 25th May, 2018) : The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) merger bill was passed with two-third majority in the Senate on Friday. A Senate session was chaired by Sadiq Sanjrani on Friday and the bill, which was already passed by two-third members of the National Assembly on Thursday, was presented in the Parliament's upper house. Seventy-one Senators voted in favor of the bill while five senators voted against it.
The bill, which allows the merger of Federally Administered Tribal Areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, was tabled by the government with the cooperation of other political parties in the National Assembly on Thursday. Two-hundred-and-twenty-nine lawmakers had voted in favor of the bill while only one parliamentarian voted against it. According to the bill, FATA will retain its 12 National Assembly and eight Senate seats for the next five years.
Elections will be held on specific provincial assembly seats in 2019. The provincial laws will immediately come into effect and the elected government will have to make decisions regarding implementation of these laws. The jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and the Peshawar High Court will be extended into these areas. In support of the bill, the Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah said that the people of FATA will now be getting the same rights as every Pakistani. The FATA areas which will merge into KP are Mohmand Agency, Bajaur Agency, Kurram Agency, North and South Waziristan, Khyber Agency, Orakzai Agency, Chitral, Dir, Swat, Kohistan, Malakand, Mansehra, Frontier Region Peshawar, Frontier Region Bannu, Frontier Region Kohat, Frontier Region Lakki Marwat, Frontier Region Dera Ismail Khan and Frontier Region Tank.
