PESHAWAR: Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) has threatened to close down the Pak-Afghan Highway and Indus Highway on May 22 in protest against the Federally Administered Tribal Areas’ (FATA) likely merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

Addressing a news conference following an emergency party meeting on Sunday, JUI-F’s FATA Chapter chief Mufti Abdul Shakoor, General Secretary Mufti Ijaz Shinwari and Information Secretary Jihad Shah said FATA’s merger with KP “is an international agenda which will not be supported at any cost.”

They said the party will stage a protest demonstration at the Pak-Afghan Highway in Landi Kotal and a separate one at the Indus Highway in Darra Adam Khel simultaneously against ignoring the will of tribal people and imposing decisions on them against their wishes.

The two highways will be closed for all traffic, they warned.

Earlier today, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman announced that the party had decided to part ways with the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) over the implementation of reforms in FATA.

Strongly opposing the 13th Amendment Bill, Rehman termed the reforms a global conspiracy. The JUI-F chief claimed that the government had backed off from the promise it made with their party for not going ahead with the merger; not going ahead with Rewaj Act and not announcing the national and provincial assembly seats.

In a National Security Committee (NSC) meeting on Saturday, the top civil and military leadership of the country had put their weight behind the merger and directed the relevant ministries to take steps in this regard.

The committee also endorsed the provision of additional well-monitored development funds for the FATA region during the next ten years, with the stipulation that those funds would not be re-appropriated to any other area of KP.