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Call for bringing Fata into national mainstream

By Ahmad Hassan

No amount of ‘state-imposed development’ can be acceptable unless peace is restored in tribal areas, speakers at a conference on Fata development said. — APP/File Photo

ISLAMABAD: No amount of ‘state-imposed development’ can be acceptable unless peace is restored in tribal areas, speakers at a conference on Fata development said on Monday. 

The conference on ‘Development in Fata: Opportunities and Challenges’ was attended by parliamentarians from Fata, members of NGOs, academia, and political workers. 

They called for the revival of the local government system, extending the country’s legal system to tribal areas, bringing Fata tribes into the national mainstream, providing them full representation in all government organisations, repeal of the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) and extending the Political Parties Act over tribal areas. 

They also called for immediate halt to US drone attacks which was resulting in an increase of anti-US sentiments and fanning terrorism and militancy. 

Some participants even advocated bringing Fata under the purview of the high court and ending the arbitrary role of the political agent. 

One participant said there was no sign of Al Qaeda presence in tribal areas and drone attacks had made no difference. 

‘Islamabad needs to discontinue the policy pursued by the British in Federally Administered Tribal Areas, Federally Administered Northern Areas and Azad Kashmir if it wants to change the country’s political environment. The current political strategy in Fata region has proven to be an ad hoc arrangement,’ they observed. 

‘Bureaucracy eats up almost 60 per cent of development funds, while the remaining 40 per cent is misappropriated and mismanaged by local politicians and administrators,’ claimed Noor Mohammad, a tribal activist. 
MNA Engineer Shaukatullah said that the FCR was not a divine law which could not be changed. 

Terming the proposed reforms in the tribal administrative system secondary, he said peace needed to be restored before everything else.

According to Asadur Rahman, a member of an NGO, Fata should initiate a campaign for equal constitutional rights under a new social contract – a need being stressed by some mainstream political parties.

Fifty per cent of youths fighting for militant groups hailed from southern Punjab, 40 per cent belonged to the NWFP, nine per cent from Sindh and one per cent from Balochistan, Mr Asad said, citing a study carried out by an NGO.

Criticising US policy, Aisha Gullalay of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) accused the US of creating an upheaval in the region and said it was the duty of western powers to immediately rectify the situation. 

Noor Mohammad of the Khyber Agency said tribesmen should be allowed to decide whether they wanted to make Fata a separate province or merge it with the NWFP.

 Mukarram Khan Atif, a journalist from Mohmand Agency, said that government policies and militants’ course of action had devastated the region. 

Other speakers included Tahira Abdullah, Qamarunissa, Asad Afridi, Nizam Dawar, Dr Zia Dawar and Zahir Shah.

DAWN: Tuesday, 26 May, 2009