Daily Times

It is considered that institutional reforms, and especially those that involve in their design the shift of power between the federation and a province and that change the very nature of the regional dynamics in the post 9/11 intervention of the US in Afghanistan and Pakistan, is no ordinary task. Secondly, FATA Reforms are a belated step to come to grips with our imperial inheritance that led to the creation of Pakistan, by constituting it from the weakly administered, tribally dominated periphery of the Indian sub-continent.

At the same time, Pakistan inherited a double liability when by evasion of responsibility by Britain, led to a violation of the agreed principle of division of the sub-continent, by allowing the Muslim majority region of Kashmir, to be occupied by India, while Britain retained defence responsibilities in 1947-48. It may also be noted that as decided by the Defence Committee of the Indian Cabinet Pakistan did not receive its share of military and financial assets. Furthermore, Pakistan was mired into another set of issues, when the irrigation headworks of Pakistani Punjab, were at the last minute given by Lord Mountbatten to India by amending the Radcliffe award.

If in 1947, Pakistan had abolished all the Princely states and special areas it would have reduced the nascent state’s subsequent security problems that followed in later years. Despite these indemnities, it is indeed miraculous that we have survived into our 77th year. Viewed in this context, the mainstreaming of FATA is thus one of the final national consolidatory steps (the other is mainstreaming of Malakand Division) and for that reason remarkable; if the current government takes credit for it, it is richly deserved indeed.

However, now comes the difficult part of implementing the 26 decisions approved by the cabinet. It is expected that the Fata Reform Committee led by Mr. Sartaj Aziz, is meeting shortly, to reconfigure itself into the cabinet level implementation committee by expanding its membership by inviting the CM and CS of KP and the Corp Commander XI Corp as its new members. All three represent some critical aspects of the Reform agenda and their inclusion is essential.

One of the cabinet decisions is that FATA will participate in the 2018 provincial elections. As a result, about 23 new members are expected to be included into the provincial assembly and many will get ministerial and other powers as a result; CM KP is of the opinion, that since it is his province that has to accommodate new members into its assembly and also assume new responsibilities in FATA and thus the federal government should not be in the driving seat. On the other hand Article 247 is needed to come out with the enabling regulations for at least the 5 year interim period envisaged for the execution of the reforms. It is an issue that both Mr. Nawaz Sharif, the Prime Minister and Mr. Imran Khan, Chairman of the PTI, would need to be resolved. If these reforms are transformed into a zero-sum game then both the tribesmen and consolidation of Pakistan would suffer. An ideal solution will be an agreement between the center and the province to share the responsibilities and the advantages that come out of this reform.

The involvement of the Corp Commander is very important because after the clear, hold and build phase the military has to return the region to the legitimate local authorities and return to the military’s peace-time role. The shift to this phase of military control will require a planned approach, where its assistance if its assistance is needed in any future recrudescence; this will require planning and enunciation of security policy so that under no circumstance any opportunity is given to terrorism and chaos to re-emerge.

The transition period is also required to carry out the set of constitutional and other reforms needed for the mainstreaming of FATA. Perhaps the most important bill that is needed to be passed will be the presentation of a bill in the KP Provincial Assembly authorizing the change in provincial boundary because of the implementation of FATA Reforms. This is the requirement in Article 239 (4) of the Constitution. Furthermore, it is the constitutional requirement that the provincial assembly must pass this bill by a 2/3rd majority of the total membership of its members. Without the passage of such a bill with the requisite majority, FATA Reforms cannot be initiated!

The following are the other Constitutional amendments that will be needed. Art 1, would need to be amended by excluding tribal areas (FATA), from the definition of being a part of Pakistan since after their incorporation into KP they will not remain. Art 106, will need to be amended as the strength of the KP assembly will increase. Art 246 will require to be amended as the tribal areas will no longer be governed under it (the timing of this and other amendments will need to be synchronized. Similarly, there are consequential amendments needed in Art 51, 59, 74, 160, 240 and 242 for share in federal services.

Clearly, there is a dire need for cross-party agreement and support for this mammoth reform agenda to succeed. This appears to be the most crucial task facing the new Implementation Committee for FATA Reforms and it will require Oceans of good-will and hard work to make it happen. Without it FATA Reforms will remain a dream only. Its non-implementation could threaten national solidarity, that will be the price of failure.

The writer is a freelance, based in Islamabad