Daily Times

The government once again went back on its commitment to introduce the FATA reforms bill in the lower house of the parliament, despite putting it on the Order of the Day for the third sitting of the 50th session of the National Assembly. For the third consecutive day, the opposition continued its boycott of the house proceedings against this withdrawal. Citing “technical reasons”, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sheikh Aftab Ahmad said the government desired to present the Fata reforms bill in parliament after developing consensus among all parties. There are none in this position as the opposition was never briefed about the ‘technical reasons’ cited, nor was nay discussed in either the business advisory committee or with the leader of the opposition.

This was not the first time that the government faltered on its commitments pertaining to FATA reforms, apparently under the severe pressure of its coalition partners who want to grind their own axe while the coalition leader, PMLN, is fighting for survival after the disqualification of Mian Nawaz Sharif. The problems which emerged for the party in the aftermath of the Faizabad sit-in, the offshoot of which is still lingering in Lahore, has also continue to make life difficult for the PML-N.

Ever since the process of Fata reforms was initiated in the wake of the establishment of the FATA Reforms Committee under the chairpersonship of Sartaj Aziz, there has been a fierce display of conflicting vested interests from different quarters including the bureaucratic structure that has been in unquestionable, unchallengeable control of FATA, and the political parties pursuing their narrow and selfish political agenda.

For the JUI-F, the best-case scenario is if FATA becomes a seperate province. This otherwise marginal party cannot foresee itself heading a provincial government in KP or Balochistan where it has pockets of influence

The Committee had proposed in 2015 a set of political, administrative, judicial and security reforms alongside a comprehensive and phased program for reconstruction and rehabilitation in order to prepare FATA for the eventual merger with KP in five years. The recommendations included in addition to the merger, the repeal of the draconian colonial FCR imposed upon the hapless people of FATA. The federal cabinet approved this package of necessary reforms along with the phased program for implementation, on March 2, 2017.

But before that, the government had already announced the plan in January 2017 to eventually merge FATA with KP as was recommended by the Committee.Following which, the Bill was approved by the Cabinet in March. One bill, the Tribal Areas Rewaj Bill 2017 was presented in the National Assembly in May. Instead of referring it to the Standing Committee on Law & Justice, the Speaker sent it to the Committee on SAFRON. It was the wrong decision because the SAFRON ministry has conflict of interest as far as FATA’s merger with KP is concerned. The ministry would stand dissolved in case of a merger, or at lease, would completely lose its relevance. It was not rocket science to see that not only would the Committee not get an objective brief from its corresponding ministry, but also, the bill would not have gotten objective treatment from the committee chaired by a member whose party has been (and still is) fiercely against the merger. Which is exactly what happened. The Chair of the Committee abruptly called off the meeting and deferred the discussion on the bill indefinitely.

Subsequently, the government decided to bring a new bill in place of the Tribal Areas Rewaj Bill, which became controversial because of its provisions that safeguarded continuation of the FCR. The new bill was to abolish the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) and extend the jurisdiction of the superior judiciary to FATA. But when it came out finally, it proposed extension of Islamabad High Court to FATA instead of the previously decided Peshawar High Court. FATA parliamentarians, range of politicians, civil society and intelligentsia belonging to FATA strongly protested. Upon which, consensus was developed during a meeting held in Islamabad on 29 September. Minister for SAFRON Lt-Gen (Retd) Abdul Qadir Baloch chaired the meeting while 16 out of the 19 lawmakers from FATA attended it. The three absent lawmakers were also consulted via phone that also agreed on the merger. SAFRON Minister announced this new consensus in a presser the same evening. After a long wait of over two months and massive protest sit-in by the FATA people, this new bill had come once again. Only to be taken off the agenda yet again, without any debate.

The way the government has been handling these proposals and their presentation to the House amply proves that some political parties have lost all ability to think beyond their selfish agenda of gaining more and more power. The brown sahibs of bureaucracy, who have been ruling FATA like Moguls for seven decades have their vested interest in maintaining the current status quo. The powers that have been using FATA as an invisible buffer belt between Afghanistan and ‘settled’ Pakistan, also appear to be adamant on keeping the FATA people invisible and unsettled irrespective of their public claims of supporting the reforms process. Every power-holder seems to have its own definition of ‘reforms’.

For the JUI-F, the best-case scenario is if FATA becomes a separate province. This otherwise marginal party in other provinces cannot foresee itself heading a provincial government in either KP or Balochistan — the two provinces where it has some pockets of influence. In FATA on the other hand, this party seems to have more sway than any other party owing to state policies that have historically supported religious puritanism and socio-cultural retrogression, mainly to counter the progressive but ethno-nationalist ideologies. If FATA was to become a separate province, the JUI-F would have its own Chief Minister in at least one province alongside an equal number of seats in the Senate. By insisting on a separate province — despite having a pan-Islamist ideology that discourages boundaries among Muslims — this party can milk the status quo till the lengthy and slow process of the establishment of a new province. Being very politically shrewd, the JUI-F leadership knows very well that Pakistan’s current state of economy cannot afford a new province. Since the situation suits a powerful ‘strategic lobby’, the Maulanas see green pastures ahead.

For the ethno-nationalist, progressive and almost secular (although its manifesto doesn’t use the word secular), PkMAP, the merger of FATA and KP would mean the dilution of its political rhetoric on the Durand Line, which in its leadership’s view would be compromised if FATA loses its special status and becomes settled in near-mainland Pakistan. More than the people of FATA, this party appears to be caring more for its strategic constituency among the ethno-nationalists in Afghanistan, which is quite upset on the merger proposal and has expressed so in no uncertain terms.

Amidst all this, FATA people are still waiting for their rights. Seventy years on.

The writer is a staff member who tweets at @marvisirmed and can be contacted at marvisirmed@gmail.com

Published in Daily Times, December 14^th 2017.