11.08.2013

Fata needs structural reforms
The reforms proposed by the Fata Grand Assembly could be instrumental in addressing the multifarious problems of the tribal region
By Raza Khan

Over the years there have been numerous proposals for rehabilitating, developing and mainstreaming of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), however, none seems to have been adopted and have consequently delivered. The reason is that the earlier set of reforms were proposed by people who did not belong to the tribal areas and thus could not know the peculiar nature of administrative, political, legal and cultural problems and lacuna of in the Fata. In fact, all the previous reforms regarding the Fata had largely been formulated by bureaucrats who never wanted reforms in the tribal areas as it would have been tantamount to giving up the ways and means of making easy money.

The situation, therefore, in the tribal areas has gone from bad to worse with every kind of menace, whether religious extremism or terrorism or drug trafficking, continuing to afflict the region and its residents. Of late, the range of reforms recommended and are being advocated by associates of the umbrella organisation, the Fata Grand Assembly, are significant proposed measures that have come up till date from the miniscule civil society of the Fata. The reforms proposed by the Fata Grand Assembly, if implemented in letter and spirit, could be instrumental in addressing the multifarious and unique problems of the region nationally and internationally perceived to be the base of ferocious non-state terrorist networks.

The reforms included in the so-called ‘Fata Declaration’ were unanimously approved by more than 300 members of the Fata Reforms Councils from all the districts of the tribal areas. The unanimity was arrived at on the proposed reforms after extensive dialogue spanning five years. The dialogue has been focused on addressing the challenges in the implementation of already enacted political reforms in the Fata and recommendations for further reforms.

The Fata Grand Assembly is a conglomeration of political, religious leaders and civil society leaders, as well as students and women and lawyers bodies from the tribal areas. The Fata Grand Assembly also asserted that tribesmen and tribeswomen must be guaranteed the same fundamental rights enjoyed by other citizens of Pakistan.

It needs to be understood that any reforms for the Fata in recent years have aimed at alleviating the woes of the people there; putting an end to militancy and terrorism emanating from the region, initiating the reconstruction, rehabilitation and development process there.

The Fata Grand Assembly was hard-pressed to come up with its own reforms agenda for the region as the reforms process initiated by the state during the regime of Pervez Musharraf and carried forward by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)-led last federal government could not be fully implemented.

It may be recalled the process driven by the government-appointed Fata Reforms Commission which concluded its report and recommended several political, economic, judicial and social reforms in the Fata, could not be fully implemented while the process on other reforms has been snail-paced. Against this backdrop, notables from the Fata, representatives of political parties, Ulema, lawyers, journalists, students and women from the tribal areas gathered so that their collective voices may be heard at the highest political level.

The importance of the Fata Declaration can be gauged from the fact that within days of their proposing, President Asif Ali Zardari, who constitutionally has the powers to legislate laws and regulation for the tribal areas, invited the leading lights of the Fata Grand Assembly for an audience. During the meeting, President Zardari vowed to implement all the reforms in the Fata proposed by the Fata Reforms Committee. He admitted that the process may have been slow-paced but it would have far-reaching positive implications.

The foremost reform which the declaration emphasised on is the constitutional amendment to allow the Fata parliamentarians to legislate regarding their own areas. It is ironical that the members of the Parliament from the Fata, including both the National Assembly and the Senate of Pakistan, could take part in making laws for the entire Pakistan but not for their own region. There can be no bigger absurdity in the political and federal structure of Pakistan than this. Only the President of Pakistan is ex-officio the sole law-giver law-amender in the Fata. In this context, this is a very sound demand from the Fata Grand Assembly.

The Grand Assembly also asked for the formation of an elected ‘Fata Council.’ The aim of the council is to serve as an executive arm of the government. It would advise the Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), who is ex-officio, the administrative head of the Fata apart from the KP and is the top agent of the federal government for the Fata, in running the affairs of the region. If formed, an elected Fata Council would go a long way in ensuring at least a semblance of good governance in the tribal areas as well as laying the foundation of democratic oversight of the administrative affairs.

Another reform which the Grand Assembly has proposed is that the political administration shall be accountable to an elected local government. This recommendation has a rationale and those who know the tribal areas and the ruthless powers which the top official of each tribal district or agency known as the ‘Political Agent’ has and has been exercising cannot but agree with this demanded reform. For this, there is a need first that each tribal agency must have its own local municipal government and that too an elected one. It seems that the bureaucracy, which has always been the sole power wielder in the Fata, has hijacked the proposed local government system in the Fata conceived by the PPP government.

Division of executive and judicial powers in the Fata is another main recommendation of the Fata Grand Assembly. Since the introduction of the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) by the British Colonialists in 1901, the political agent and its subordinate officials have been the repository of all the administrative and judicial powers in the Fata.

The Fata women don’t have any seats reserved for them in the NA. This is despite the fact that a large number of seats are reserved for women in the NA. Ironically, none of the political parties could give a single seat to a woman from the Fata from its quota since the practice started after the 2002 general elections. This credit goes to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), which made Ayesha Gulalai from South Waziristan as the MNA. She has been nominated as MNA from the KP quota though she lives in Peshawar. If the process of change has really to be galvanized in the Fata, the region women have to be empowered meaningfully and its greatest indicator is giving them a role in political institutions and then governance.

The Grand Assembly has also proposed abolishment or extensive amending of the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR). The FCR, the legal-administrative framework for the Fata, promulgated by the British Colonial rulers, has been a draconian law. Although some reforms, including altering its most draconian clauses like the 40 FCR, have already been made by President Zardari, they could not safeguard the rights of the residents of the Fata. The only to overthrow the FCR is to make the Fata a new province.

A very sound reform proposed by the Fata Grand Assembly is the Extension of High Court jurisdiction to the Fata. Never in the history, the Fata had any court.

The Assembly has also proposed promotion of education throughout the Fata. Although this is very general demand, no efforts have been made, claims notwithstanding, for the promotion of education in the Fata. On the other hand, the extremists and terrorists have left no stone unturned by destroying the existing educational institutions in the Fata. So far, the terrorists have bombed more than 600 schools in the Fata.

The writer is a political analyst and researcher:razapkhan@yahoo.com)