CHARSADDA: Awami National Party president Asfandyar Wali Khan has called for the merger of Fata with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa before the 2018 general elections.

“The new prime minister should end the sense of deprivation prevailing among Pakhtuns and Balochs and announce merger of Fata with KP before the general elections,” he said while speaking at a workers’ convention at the residence of former minister Barrister Arshad Abdullah here on Saturday evening.

He said the announcement of merger should take effect before the next general elections.

He said there was no ambiguity in Article 62 and 63 of the 1973 Constitution, but former military dictator Gen Ziaul Haq deformed it with his amendments. He said no prime minister since 1947 could complete his constitutional tenure.

He said his party had made efforts to undo the two articles to restore the constitution in its original form, but Nawaz Sharif was hurdle in its way.

Mr Wali said despite having many reservations, ANP accepted the Supreme Court verdict in the Panama Papers case. He said political problems should be resolved inside parliament and should not be taken to courts which would undermine supremacy of the parliament.—Correspondent