Lawmakers, Citizens Protest KP Bill Declaring Ex-FATA’s Resources Govt Property

Lawmakers, Citizens Protest KP Bill Declaring Ex-FATA’s Resources Govt Property
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly passed a bill declaring all mines and minerals in former FATA as the property of the government without any debate in the house, resulting in strong protest from both lawmakers of the opposition and citizens.

The treasury passed the bill without allowing the opposition any debate on the matter. Opposition members termed the government’s move as undemocratic and lodged a protest that they were not allowed to deliberate over and exchange their viewpoints on the bill.

Member of Provincial Assembly from Waziristan Mir Kalam Wazir stated that he condemned the recent bill of the KP assembly and termed this the ‘worst’ kind of legislation which was unacceptable.

https://twitter.com/KalamWazir/status/1194984875532673025?s=20

Former member of parliament Bushra Gohar condemned the bill and said that residents of former FATA had primary ownership rights over their resources. She said that the bill was bulldozed through Pakhtunkhwa puppet assembly to loot and plunder the merged districts’ resources.

https://twitter.com/BushraGohar/status/1194997579890737159?s=20

Awami National Party National Youth Organisation Palwasha Abbas took to Twitter to state that the bill was discriminatory and that the act would be resisted, adding that there would be no compromise on the rights of militancy stricken residents of ex-FATA.

https://twitter.com/Palwasha_Abbas/status/1195000060813205504?s=20

Academic Nida Kirmani said that not only were people of ex-FATA stripped over their rights, they were also stripped of control over their resources, adding that FATA’s incorporation into KP was ‘making sense’ now.

https://twitter.com/nidkirm/status/1194991091151454208?s=20

Former senator Farhatullah Babar said that the bulldozing of the legislation to dispossess tribals of their mineral wealth raised serious questions as to which state entity was behind this move. He added that the move strengthened the narrative that tribal areas were blockaded while the region's wealth was plundered.

https://twitter.com/FarhatullahB/status/1195020551242289155?s=20

 

Meanwhile, citizens took to Twitter to condemn the bill, referring to the bill as looting to deprive people of ex-FATA of their resources. #StopLootingExFata trended on Twitter as people condemned the bill and demanded justice for erstwhile FATA’s citizens.

https://twitter.com/javedwzr77/status/1194988981945020416?s=20

A user questioned whether FATA’s merger with KP was meant to deprive people of their resources.

https://twitter.com/mmatalpur/status/1195015898576363520?s=20

People also opined that previously, their resources were being targeted by terrorists, now a bill passed in the assembly was being used to rob them of their resources.

https://twitter.com/Ghani_Armaan/status/1194985874406215680?s=20

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