Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Disagreement between the FATA Secretariat and Ministry of States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) has caused inordinate delay in the sanctioning of thousands of posts in the service delivery sector in the militancy-plagued tribal region, a senior official at the FATA Secretariat said.

“Almost 6,000 new posts in service delivery await Ministry of Finance approval since 2010,” the official at the FATA Secretariat told DT who wished to remain unnamed because he isn’t authorized to speak to the media.

Muzaffar Burki, deputy financial adviser (DFA) recalled that a meeting was held on this issue amid some differences between the Ministry of SAFRON, FATA Secretariat and political parties.

He said the Ministry of Finance has asked the Ministry of SAFRON and FATA Secretariat to come up with a final decision so that his ministry can set the process in motion regarding approval of the pending service delivery posts.

The official at the FATA Secretariat said following completion of repatriation process of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to parts of tribal region, his secretariat had been direly needed thousands of posts to be filled by eligible candidates to help repair the damaged infrastructure.

Rustam Shah Mohmand, expert on tribal affairs and former ambassador to Afghanistan, said it is a tragedy that most of the people are talking on FATA reforms either don’t know about the tribal areas or they have their vested interests.

He said now people are talking about merging of FATA into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and some called for separate province of tribal region but no one is talking about provision of basic services of life.

“The government should work on education in FATA on war-footing basis. The newly repatriated families should be provided with clean drinking water and health facilities then we can talk about its status,” Mohmand noted.

The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) or the Pakistani tribal region witnessed vicious cycle of violence and bloody clashes between the security forces and militants, leaving a total 81,325 to 81,860 civilians, security forces including militants dead and wounded since 2004 until the end of 2013, according to the Nobel Prize-winning International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, along with Physicians for Social Responsibility and Physicians for Global Survival.

In addition, the war on terror in the Pakistani tribal region sparked mass exodus of tribal families to parts of the Pakistani districts such as Karachi, Peshawar, Dera Ismail Khan (D.I.K) and Quetta.

“Though FATA has now some buildings such as educational institutions and hospitals but we need to appoint relevant persons on vacant posts to make those facilities functional properly,” the FATA Secretariat official added.

Burki said the Ministry of Finance has received a requisition for approval of thousands of posts in service delivery sector in FATA but his ministry has sent back the case with some objections.

He said following a call attention notice in the assembly, the case has now been referred to the Standing Committee for discussion. “But I think it will be resolved soon,” he added.

The Ministry of SAFRON and FATA Secretariat need to rationalize the case and then send to the Ministry of Finance for approval, he noted.

“The officials of FATA Secretariat are needed to pursue their cases pending with Ministry of Finance for early clearance,” Burki said in an indirect reference to red tapism—-a long established culture of delaying tactics by the bureaucracy.

“These are a total of 5,544 posts technically known as Statement of News Expenditures (SMEs) south by the FATA Secretariat. Once the Ministry of SAFRON and FATA Secretariat send us then we will put up for approval this time,” Burki added.

He said these posts in service delivery sector are in education, health, FATA Disaster Management Authority (FDMA), Cadet College Wana and other sectors.

Mohmand said education, businesses, markets, homes and social fabric have been totally shattered amid militarization of the entire region.

“Social and economic life has totally been disrupted and in this situation SHO or lawyer (referring to merging of FATA with KP) is not solution to the problem,” he remarked.

He said had SHO and lawyer was solution to the problem then there wouldn’t have been killings on daily basis in Karachi.

He said he government should have swung into action soon after the repatriation of displaced families to build the shattered infrastructure such as houses, markets, hospitals, schools and businesses.

“The talks to develop the tribal region are nothing but eyewash,” he added. The federal government, he said should repair the irrigation system, ensure provision of drinking water and ensure attendance of teaching staff in educational institutions.

Published in Daily Times, September 27^th 2017.