The National Assembly (NA) has on Monday unanimously passed the 26th Constitution Amendment Bill.
The bill was tabled by Mohsin Dawar – an independent member from tribal areas – and 288 Members National Assembly voted in favor of the bill while no MNA opposed it.
It was the first time in the Pakistan Parliament’s history that a bill presented by an independent member was collectively approved both by the government as well as the opposition.
After the approval of the 26th Constitution Amendment Bill, the number of provincial seats for former FATA has increased from 16 to 24.
Prime Minister Imran Khan addressed the NA session and said the people of the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) are going through a very difficult phase, and their concerns will now be listened at every forum.
“The whole nation is standing with the people of the tribal areas, and every province will give three percent from National Finance Commission (NFC) Award to the erstwhile FATA for ten years.
“Terrorism caused a lot of destruction in the tribal areas, and development funds cannot compensate for the damage.
“We suffered a lot when East Pakistan was separated, and anti-Pakistan elements can again use the sense of deprivation for negative purposes. The government had put its trust in all political parties regarding the FATA bill.”
