PESHAWAR: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday said that it is important to merge the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Addressing a PPP Workers Convention, the former President lashed out at the ruling party, declaring that ?these people would have sold the country if it were up to them.?

Referring to the July 28 verdict of the Supreme Court in the Panama Papers case, Zardari said that the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif keeps questioning why he was disqualified. 

"Why did he accept the decision if he isn't aware of the basis of his disqualification," Zardari said. 

Political parties are throwing their weight in electoral constituencies ahead of the elections next year. Protesters had gathered near Islamabad?s D-Chowk area on Monday to demonstrate against the delay in the implementation of FATA reforms.

A meeting of the FATA Amendments Committee members with the Prime Minister later in the day was concluded on a positive note after the premier assured that the suggestions, including the abolishment of the Frontier Crimes Regulations, will be considered. The committee members expressed their satisfaction with the meeting.  

PM Abbasi calls FATA MNAs for talks as protesters gather near D-Chowk: sources

Residents of Fata want their rights as they have the same flag, country, and religion: JI ameer

The protesters had initially planned to stage a sit-in at D-Chowk but were stopped by police from proceeding to the area.

Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan Siraj-ul-Haq said the residents of Fata want their rights as they have the same flag, country, and religion. 

PPP has always created employment opportunities for the masses, he said, adding that creating employment has always been the party?s identity.

The former president insisted that his government had left the country in a much better condition but the ruling party had led it into a bad state. 

Zardari accuses Nawaz of trying to 'stir fight between Islamabad, Rawalpindi'

PPP co-chairman says he has received ten messages from Nawaz since the time he started taking a little heat

In an apparent reference to recent statements by the Sharif family, Zardari had earlier said that the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif is trying to "stir a fight between Islamabad and Rawalpindi".

In an interview, the former president said a disqualified individual cannot become a party's president in a democratic system.

The PPP co-chairman also revealed that he has received "ten messages from Nawaz Sharif since the time he started taking the heat, but did not have a word with him."

"This is not a fight between Islamabad and Rawalpindi, but Nawaz wants to make it one," he said.