Daily Times

Lahore: A reforms package has been prepared for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) by a committee comprising six men. And this all-male committee did not even consult women activists from the region before drafting proposals that will have a far-reaching impact in years to come, complain women members of the FATA Youth Jirga.

Speaking to Daily Times, FATA Youth Jirga executive committee member Samreena Wazir asks when women comprised around 50 percent of the region’s population, what was the justification for ignoring them in the consultation process?

The absence of women’s input has meant that pressing issues have been overlooked and others that don’t have a huge impact on women in the region have been added to the proposals drafted by the committee.

“The law on protection from sexual harassment is included in the reforms package but it is not needed in FATA simply because there aren’t many public spaces women can access on their own to begin with,” she says.

“The reforms package does not address the issue of women’s lack of involvement in mainstream politics which is a major problem,” she says.

Wazir, who runs a non-government organisation in the region, says political agents routinely cover up news related to violence against women to protect the status quo. “Such issues should have been addressed by the lawmakers in the package,” she adds.

She says that women played an important role in the struggle to get due rights for the region. “Many women activists continued their struggle even after they lost male members of their families to terrorist attacks. We did not give up and we will continue to agitate to draw the authorities’ attention towards the draconian Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR),” she vows.

The jirga had been formed in October to a united front to strive for the region’s merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). It comprises student leaders and youth activists from 26 organisations including all major political parties like the Pakistan Muslim League – N (PML-N), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Awami National Party (ANP) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI).

The jirga members are holding meetings with political leaders and government officials in Islamabad to push for their demands.

Another executive member of the jirga, Nizamuddin Khan says that the alliance was formed in the wake of protest held by FATA parliamentarians in Islamabad. “We have realised that a united front of FATA representatives is needed to achieve our objective. We have formed the collation by putting aside their political differences because groups working separately are unable to make any difference,” he says.

The group has already held meetings with KP Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, Minister for States and Frontier Regions Abdul Qadir Baloch, Law and Justice Minister Zahid Hamid, PTI Chairman Imran Khan, JI chief Siraj ul Haq and is now trying to set up meetings with the leaders of the two parties who oppose the merger – Jamiat Ulema Islam – F (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PKMAP) chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai.

“The ruling party members told us that the process has been delayed because of the objections raised by the government’s allies. The government does not seem to be in a position to offend its allies,” says Khan, who is also a member of the PML-N youth wing.

He says the ministers and KP governor have told one of their delegations that the reservations have largely been removed and the merger process will begin shortly.

Another member of the youth jirga Arshad Afridi says that the JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman is opposing the merger because his party stands to benefit from the panchayat and jirga system in place in the region. “It allows them to exercise excessive powers,” he says.

He says the youth jirga will press for completion of the merger process in the next two months since general elections are around the corner.

Speaking about a recent meeting with PTI chief Imran Khan, Afridi says the delegates of the youth jirga had registered their protest over his complete lack of attention towards the region. “We told him [Imran Khan] that his focus has always been on four national assembly seats from the Punjab and that he has never staged a dharna to get justice for the hapless people of FATA. He responded to our criticism with the promise that his party will stage a sit-in against the government if the merger process is not started in two weeks,” he says.

Afridi further suggests that the ongoing process of delimitation of National Assembly seats should include FATA seats, because otherwise political leaders will use this as an excuse to further delay the merger.

Regarding group’s future strategy, Nizamuddin Khan tells Daily Times that delegations meeting ministers and government officials will keep pressing them to provide a time frame for implementation of the proposed reforms. “If the delay persists even after all these assurances, we will have no other option but to take to the streets. We will hold sit-ins in all major cities,” he says.

“It has been decided that no individual will bring their political party’s flags to these gatherings. No party will be allowed to hijack the demonstrations for political point scoring,” he adds.

Published in Daily Times, November 3^rd 2017.