Peshawar:
The head of Jamiat Ulema-E-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), Maulana Fazlur Rehman, said on Wednesday that the Mines and Minerals bill proposed by the government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) was unacceptable because he had violated provincial autonomy.
Addressing a press conference in Peshawar, Fazl said that the situation of the law and the order was bad in Balutchistan and Kp, where the leaders and supporters of the Jui-F were targeted. He also opposed the forced repatriation of Afghan refugees.
Fazl qualified the mines and minerals of the KP an attack on provincial autonomy. “The Federation wants to seize the province’s resources,” he said. “If the government wants to do minerals, we are not against it, but the autonomy, the resources and the rights of the provinces should not be affected,” he added.
“We are not in favor of the bill because he is like to steal the province of his resources,” Fazl told journalists, adding that the government should rethink on this subject. “The government does not come back to its senses, we would go to the people.”
The head of Jui-F pointed out that there should be no violation of the 18th constitutional amendment. He warned that mines and mineral invoices could lead to foreign intervention. “We will not accept any change in the 18th amendment.”
FAZL said that the decision to merger the old tribal areas administered by the Federal Government (FATA) with KP should not have been caught up. “Now we do not know what is the current status of tribal areas, whether merged or have a separate status,” he said.
Speaking about the repatriation of Afghan refugees, Fazl said that this question had been raised in 2017 when the refugees were invited to return from here and at that time, he had suggested that refugees were divided into categories.
Developing, he declared that the first category would be from those who had acquired professional skills and that Pakistan could benefit from it; The second category included businessmen and investors and the third category of students and ordinary people.
He proposed that the two countries adopt a joint mechanism for their return. “The way in which refugees are returned is a violation of humanitarian rights and international organizations should take note. However, if the refugees go back voluntarily, there should be no objection.”
Fazl announced that a meeting of the central council of Jui-F had been called on April 19 and 20. He also announced that the party would contact other parties on the bill on mines and minerals. He also announced plans for a million March in Minar-E-Pakistan on April 27 and in Peshawar on May 11.
