Daily Times

Pakistan’s election date has been set for the middle of July. But the country’s democratic litmus test is due before then. In fact, today is when the government’s mettle will be tried.

Tribal elders from FATA are scheduled to hold a rally in the federal capital to protest the merger of the latter with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. This follows last week’s grand jirga that rejected outright the aforementioned proposal that is all but a done deal. Meanwhile Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan has urged that this be finalised once and for all before the upcoming general elections. So that tribal populations will not have to wait out in the cold for another five years.

Khan does have a point. But given that those due to protest are asking for the right to their own province — we press the state apparatus to respond with great care. Self-determination is a prerequisite to democracy. And while we of course understand that this issue had previously gone before FATA’s directly elected representatives — we would remind the government that popular rule is a constantly evolving phenomenon and it remains the job of those at the helm to acknowledge this.

In other words, the Centre cannot entirely rule out a return to the consultative process. For if it falters at this stage of negotiating a settlement acceptable to all sides, it will not bode well for the future. Especially given that the tribal people of Pakistan have already suffered immensely. And not just at the hands of the draconian colonial overhang in the form of the Frontier Crimes Regulation or the dead-end when it comes to the jurisdictional remit of the highest court in the land. But also in terms of anti-militant action by both US remote-controlled warfare and direct military operations at the hands of our security establishment as part of the National Action Plan. And while we truly believe that democracy is the best chance we have of countering the extremist threat — any misstep at this point may well send the wrong message to those living in our so-called tribal badlands. One that suggests the state measures democracy by ballot-boxing timelines alone.

Pakistan is already facing an insurgency in the restive province of Balochistan. It cannot afford risking the same in FATA. Nor can it incur the possibility of fuelling dangerous conspiracies that suggest this is a scheme to keep the tribal populations across both sides of the Durand Line forever separated.

But most importantly — if the government (including all opposition parties) does not at least entertain the protestors today — it will deliver a most perilous message. One that says the Centre will only capitulate before a religious right-wing agenda that may or may not have off-stage support.  *

Published in Daily Times, December 23^rd 2017.