Tribal elders of the newly merged districts (NMDs) of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Friday called for completing the fresh census and delimitation of constituencies before holding the elections.
Talking to the media at the Peshawar Press Club, Senator Abdul Rasheed, Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl Senior Vice President Ejaz Ahmad Saeed, Mayor of North Waziristan Tehsil Muhammad Shoaib, former provincial assembly member Akhtar Gul, tribal Maliks of South Waziristan and others highlighted the problems and issues of the merged districts, including the resettlement of internally displaced persons (IDPs), education, health, infrastructure and communications. They said in the last census held in 2017, the population of the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) was shown as half. Moreover, the commitments made at the time of FATA’s merger into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after the 25th Constitutional Amendment were not met, besides reducing the number of National Assembly seats from 12 to six, they added. They reiterated the demand for deferring the election till the completion of the census so that they got representation in the assemblies in proportion to the population. They warned of holding a protest movement if their demand was not heeded to.
