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Old Tuesday, May 07, 2013
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Causes of extremism in FATA and KP

Khubaib Usmani

Notwithstanding the unprecedented surge in violence that has gripped the country (excluding Punjab) due to electioneering the perpetual problems of Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa are a mix of bad governance or complete lack of it, political exploitation, and patriarchal attitudes that have intricately woven into societal fabric over the decades.

Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa and FATA are now denied the basic right of education. Peace and prosperity is a distant reality to them and they wake up to unending bomb blasts, suicide attacks and kidnapping for ransom cases every day. In a recent survey conducted in Peshawar, Charsadda, Swat and Mohmand Agency, respondents attributed lack of education, economic woes and justice as factors chiefly responsible for the growth of terrorism and extremism in the country.

To begin with Pakistan is a sorry tale of various education systems, running parallel to each other but none is capable of delivering any good to this hapless nation; we have system of seminaries that have mushroomed in nook and corner of the country and modest estimates show there are well over 35,000 seminaries in Pakistan and half of them are women seminaries. These seminaries are churning out fanatics who have very little or no knowledge of contemporary branches of science. They have no regard or tolerance for others and for them it is perfectly justified to kill others in the name of Islam.
The distraught infrastructure is the primary reason why our education system is in shambles; no attention is being paid on chronic capacity limitations of teachers who are unable to infuse a quest for learning among students; these semi-literate teachers in government and lower middle class institutions are further conditioned with their dogmatic beliefs which makes it even more difficult for students to achieve positive results and witness things in a free atmosphere. Then regional disparity is also a major cause.

The schools in Khyber-Pukhunkhwa are not that much groomed as that of the Punjab. In FATA, the literacy rate is deplorable constituting 29.5% in males and 3% in females. Out-of-place patriarchal values attach least importance to women or girls education; it is a sad reality that current primary school ratio of boys and girls is 10:4, which should be a cause of huge concern to policy makers but surprisingly it is not. Successive governments have not paid any attention to technical education and apparently literate people in Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa and FATA are without jobs both because fewer opportunities are available to them and because their education is worth nothing in job market.

The recent surge of extremism has pushed us into further isolation and economic quagmire. Our GDP growth rate is a dismal 2.4 percent and even this figure is hotly debated. Depreciation of rupee against dollar, energy crisis and upward inflation has increased the cost of doing business manifold. Business owners are shifting their capital to regional and African countries leaving Pakistan for good. In its Asian Development Outlook, the Asian development Bank has painted an extremely bleak picture of Pakistan’s economy that is “directionless” and immediate recovery chances are almost nil amid a worsening balance of payments position. According to the ADB, last year was the fifth consecutive year of low growth, falling investment, excessive fiscal deficits, high inflation and a deteriorating external position that weighed heavily on the economy.

Economically, FATA is completely in tatters where more than 75 percent people live below the poverty line. The poverty is absolute in FATA with no immediate chances of improvement. Per capita income is only half of that of Pakistan which is around 470 dollars. Tribesmen are enmeshed in abject poverty because they are earning less than a dollar a day; extensive agriculture, due to rocky and mountainous lands, is very little while the only other option that of manufacturing sector is almost non-existent.

This situation persists, despite of the fact that the strategic location of FATA gives it great economic advantage. In Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa the industries of beverage, ceramics, cement, cigarette, cotton, textile, matches, vegetable ghee and woolen textile are already on the brink of devastation. Most of them have been shut down and those that are still working find it increasingly difficult to survive.

Inhabitants of FATA are deprived of any positive approach towards the life; clerics in the conservative region have almost been on the pay roll of foreign masters. Extremists exploited this situation shrewdly and ruled the roost. The biggest manifestation of this situation has been the rise of terrorism from the region. Although tribesmen are not terrorists but certain terrorists have made tribal territories their permanent abode. Weak writ of the state has provided what has been termed as enabling or permissive environment to the terrorists.

Drone attacks are the basic source of new recruitment to militant groups based in FATA. According to TTP leadership Drone gave them more recruitments than that of their campaign. The survey conducted in three areas of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa also supports the view that indiscriminate drone strikes compel average inhabitants to convert themselves into living bombs since they do not have any other option. Even if drone strikes kill a few militants, they actually end up swelling the ranks of new recruits.

When people of Swat stood up in favour of Darul Qaza in troubled Malakand Division it was not without reason. The people who were used to the speedy resolution of their feuds and family issues under the legal and social framework of the pre-merger Swat felt frustrated with delay of justice in Pakistani courts, and the rampant corruption in government institutions broke their trust in the State.

Still some semblance of sobriety can be achieved if a clean leadership introduces better governance system with speedy justice and quality education.

After all we are the ones who have to bring order out of this fiasco.

http://www.thefrontierpost.com/category/40/
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