FATA awaits reforms

FATA.

What comes to your mind your hear this custom-laden word?

Turbaned people. Wrapped in shuttlecock burqa women. Gun-touting young men. 

FATA is much more. It has vibrant people. It has women who see dreams. It has lots of children who are as curious as those living in other parts of the world.

They have long been living in isolation. 

Not anymore.  

The only thing this tribal land wants is connectivity with the world. 

By delaying the FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas) reforms bill, the Pakistan Muslim League-N government is wasting a historic opportunity to mainstream this tribal land and bring its people and infrastructure on a par with those of other parts of the country. 

The much-needed bill is agreed upon by almost all political parties, except for the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party,  and lawmakers from tribal areas are also campaigning for the early approval of the bill. Like the previous Asif Zardari-led initiative on then Northern Areas and now Gilgit-Baltistan, which helped the scenic areas mainstreamed and flourished, the incumbent government has a golden chance to introduce reforms in the tribal areas and make a big political moves to uplift the party, facing hard times in the wake of the disqualification of its founder Nawaz Sharif in the Panama case.

The party had started work on the bill years ago when Nawaz Sharif was himself, prime minister. The party’s hard work under a committee, led by Sartaj Aziz, has several important points. The bill brings the people and areas, under the ambit of the Peshawar High Court and the Supreme Court, freeing them from the harsh, strict laws of the Frontier Constabulary Regulations, which carry sweeping penalties.

Earlier, the Pakhtunkhwa government and the federal government had differed on the reforms as the provincial government wanted the control of the tribal areas for five years to mainstream them before holding elections there in 2023. The federal government, however, proposed election for provincial assembly seats in 2018 and then local bodies elections. The Rewaj Act, which has the active support of the Pakistan People’s Party and the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, has first proposed party-based local body elections before the general elections. The differences, however, were later overcome through dialogues.

The fresh cord of discord stems from the faltering on the presentation of the bill in the National Assembly earlier this week after the ruling party stepped back despite putting the bill on the agenda of the session. Now, we hear that Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi plans to consult the political parties at a breakfast meeting this week when he is back from Turkey where is attending the session of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. This is a welcome step, and the prime minister should discuss the bottlenecks and irritants in the bill with political leaders, who think that the bill is being withdrawn or held back only to appease Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Mahmood Khan Achakzai.

The tribal areas have long been ignored by successive governments leaving them to local lords until Taliban militants held the areas hostage. The army took years to flush them out. Still, there are pockets in tribal areas where Taliban militants have their networks but the army will soon tackle them. As the army is doing its part, the political government also needs to chip in its share. The reforms bill heralds a news ear for the tribesmen and it should be implemented without any delay.