Daily Times

Much has been said on how the government’s failure to implement reforms in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) will compromise the gains made in the military operations against terrorists. The delay is causing unrest in the region, but the stakeholders have remained unsuccessful in developing consensus on the issue and the matter is lingering on since March when FATA Reforms Package was approved by the cabinet and then PM Nawaz Sharif. On Monday the bill was delayed yet again as government dropped it off the agenda for the National Assembly session amid protest from the opposition parties and FATA parliamentarians. Although the ministers said it would be added to the agenda later, there was no justification as to why it was removed in the first place. The bill was about extending the jurisdiction of the Peshawar High Court and the Supreme Court to FATA. When political leader express reservations over something as uncontroversial as this, you know they are doing so to further their vested agendas.

Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) violates the basic human rights of the people of the region and has long been used by tribal heads and political administration to suppress the locals. While the SAFRON minister recently announced that the government would abolish the FCR, no time frame was given for the merger of FATA with KP. The political leaders and governments over the years tried their best to use the misleading slogan of ‘mainstreaming’ in a bid to delay the merger process. But the people of FATA have now become politically aware and the way activists from the region have come forward in support of their demands this time indicates they will accept nothing short of a full-fledged merger. And this is the only solution to end the miseries of the disgruntled people of the region and bring them into the mainstream. The word ‘mainstream’ should no longer be used to divert attention from the basic demand of merger.

Moreover, the way activists from FATA have united for the region’s merger and implementation of other reforms is unprecedented and their struggle deserves to be acknowledged. For the first time youth activists from FATA from all major political parties put aside their differences and joined hands to collectively push for their demands. Members of the newly-formed group named FATA Youth Jirga have held meetings with heads of all major political parties to discuss the issue and push them to play their role in materialising the merger plan. And their efforts definitely made a difference as main opposition parties have announced full support to the merger demand. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan has warned the government that delay in implementation of the FATA reforms would have serious repercussions. Khan also threatened to come out on streets against the government if the merger does not take place. Jamat-e-Islami (JI) also held a long march to demand implementation of FATA reforms and immediate merger of the region with KP. The JI chief has set December 31 as deadline for the merger and threatened to stage a prolonged sit-in if demands are not met. The FATA Youth Jirga therefore certainly deserves credit for making the political leaders realise their responsibility towards the people of FATA. Politicians are now talking about an issue that was previously ignored and this in itself is the victory for the activists of FATA and all those striving for the merger for decades. However, the struggle is certainly not over yet.

Politicians are now talking about an issue that was previously ignored. This in itself is a victory for the activists of FATA and all those striving for the FATA-KP merger for decades

Meanwhile, the youth jirga also held a meeting with Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Wednesday. That the COAS assured the delegation of the military’s support to the mainstreaming of the region is positive news. The onus is now on the government to ensure a speedy implementation of the reforms package and merge FATA with KP without further delay. The existing discriminatory system in FATA benefits the likes of Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Mehmood Khan Achakzai which is clearly the major reason why they are opposing the reforms. The JUI-F and PKMAP should not be allowed to hinder the process any longer because consensus has been reached by all stakeholders. Considering that the opposition to the merger and reforms holds no substantive argument, it shouldn’t be too difficult for the PML-N to ignore the reservations of its allies and put national interest first.

The PKMAP chief who is often critical of the establishment for not doing enough against terror (and sometimes rightly so) needs to realise the the delay in mainstreaming of FATA is benefiting the militants who are getting a chance to reorganise themselves. The FATA-KP merger was one of the points of National Action Plan (NAP) and those opposing it will be responsible if the delay causes unrest in the region.

Considering that general elections are around the corner, any further delay would mean the process would be once again put on the back-burner. The ruling party should therefore do the right thing and tell its allies that the implementation of the reforms can no longer be delayed. And the merger should not be delayed under the garb of ‘’mainstreaming’. It should be stated in clear terms that the process of so-called mainstreaming will remain incomplete as long as the merger does not take place.

The writer is an Assistant Editor at Daily Times. She tweets at @AiliaZehra and can be reached at ailiazehra2012@gmail.com

Published in Daily Times, December 14^th 2017.