Muttahida Qabail Party demands timely election in tribal areas

ISLAMABAD: Members of the Muttahida Qabail Party (MQP) held a march on Monday to demand timely election for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly seats from the tribal areas in 2018, instead of a year later.

The participants marched from the National Press Club to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), demanding that polls in the tribal areas be held as part of General Election 2018.

Vice-chairman Malik Habib Orakzai, addressing the party workers, instructed them to wait outside the ECP office until their petition is heard.

Since the tribal areas have been merged with KP, the region no more falls under the jurisdiction of the federal government.

Similar protests were staged in the federal capital earlier this month as well.

The ECP has previously assured MQP that every possible effort would be made to hold elections in the erstwhile FATA for the KP provincial assembly at the earliest.

In May, the KP Assembly passed the KP-FATA merger bill with two-thirds majority, after it was approved from the upper and lower chambers of the Parliament.

Earlier this month, the KP government also re-designated the positions of political agents with deputy commissioners (DCs) in the erstwhile FATA, according to a notification issued by the Home and Tribal Affairs Department.

The posts of additional political agents and assistant political agents were also replaced by additional deputy commissioners and assistant commissioners, respectively, with immediate effect.