Mainstreaming
FATA
Will the people
of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) be satisfied with the
assurances extended by Prime Minister (PM) Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on his visit to
North Waziristan Agency (NWA)? Let us first see what those assurances were and
what they amount to. First and foremost, the PM termed the mainstreaming of
FATA a must for its long term progress and prosperity. He asserted that the
government was working to achieve the task in line with the aspirations of the
tribal people. Abbasi inaugurated the newly constructed (by the army) Miramshah
Market Complex and the Ghulam Khan Trade Terminal on the occasion. These
projects are intended to compensate for the destruction of markets and shops of
the local people during anti-terrorist military operations in the area. Abbasi
repeated the homilies about bringing FATA on par with the more developed parts
of the country and rehabilitating internally displaced persons. The tribesmen
in return reminded the PM of the unfulfilled commitments the government made to
the tribal people, including compensation to shopkeepers, traders and residents
whose businesses and houses were destroyed in the Zarb-e-Azb military
operation. Although the PM stated that the army had done its job, i.e. cleared
the area of the malign presence of the terrorists, and it was time for the
civilian administration to take up its responsibilities, this is precisely
where there has been an unseemly lag. The year 2017 saw some assertion of
intent to merge FATA with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, mainstream and develop FATA, and
even move the tribal areas into the 21st century. None of this has
so far translated into reality on the ground, despite the federal cabinet
having approved the extension of the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and
Islamabad High Court to FATA and the treasury having prepared a bill on FATA
reforms. The bill was eventually not moved because of the opposition of two of
the PML-N government’s allies, Mahmood Khan Achakzai of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli
Awami Party and Maulana Fazlur Rehman of the JUI-F, particularly the latter.
Most observers criticised the government at the time for giving in to what
appeared to be a vested electoral interest of the JUI-F to retain its clout in
FATA. That is where the matter rests since, not to mention the failure to forge
consensus to allocate two percent of the federal divisible pool to the
development of FATA. It must be admitted of course that apart from the factor
of vested interest, the government has also been hamstrung by the judicial woes
of its leader Nawaz Sharif. Those distractions have taken focus off the FATA
merger/mainstreaming project.
It is a positive
that the PM went to NWA with the COAS General Qamar Javed Bajwa and other
senior civilian and military officials. Symbolically the visit underlined the wish
and desire of the government to take over the administration of FATA after
security has largely been restored by the military’s efforts. But if the road
to making FATA part and parcel of the Pakistani state and society in conformity
with the rest of the country was always going to be complicated and perhaps
protracted given its burden of history and the complications of the transition
from an antediluvian colonial construct to normality, intervening forces and
events, as outlined above, have made the project even more difficult. The incumbent
government is about to end its tenure, a caretaker government will take over to
conduct the general elections with all their present uncertainties, and in the
midst of the din and noise accompanying these developments, it is feared FATA’s
day may be postponed once again. Barring some miracle, that seems to indicate
that the people of FATA will have their patience tested further. The
authorities should be cognizant of the fact that a largely tribal people’s movement,
the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement, is rallying al over the country to highlight the
grievances and complaints of the tribal people regarding enforced disappearances,
extrajudicial killings and harassment and humiliations at checkposts in FATA
and elsewhere in the country in the context of the ongoing anti-terrorist drive.
The urgency of addressing these long standing grievances should not be lost on
the outgoing or incoming elected government. FATA’s mainstreaming is already
overdue. This should be pursued energetically and to the extent practicable
even through, and certainly after, the present period of flux.
No comments:
Post a Comment