PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra has said that local body elections in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) would be conducted in 2017 as majority of tribes-people wished to merge FATA with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province. Talking to a member of Engineering Council’s Executive Body, Azhar Habib Durrani, on Monday at Governor’s House the Governor said, “Out of 450,000 TDPs, only 100,000 are yet to return to their native towns in FATA. The return process would be completed by the end of the current year.” Iqbal Zafar Jhagra maintained that with the efforts of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan Army most of the problems of tribal people had been resolved and militancy has de-escalated. He added that FCR would soon be abolished after the introduction of reforms suggested by FATA Reforms Committee. The Governor said that tribesmen had rendered great sacrifices for peace of entire region and now the time has come to take potential measures to resolve their problems and work for their welfare. He said steps are being taken for the maintenance of the lasting peace and all out efforts are being made for the development of FATA and to ensure the dignified return and rehabilitation of tribal people. Every returning family was being given Rs 400,000 for the reconstruction of completely damaged houses and Rs 100,000 for partially damaged houses.
