The FATA-Khyber Pakhtunkhwa merger is a done deal. And this is a good thing. The process of transition is to be completed within two years. Yet the journey from starting point to final destination has already got off to a rocky beginning. The President still has to sign off on official paperwork; meaning the 31st Constitutional Amendment. This is no biggie given that this piece of legislation had to first go before Parliament, which it duly did on Sunday. Both Upper and Lower houses as well as the KP assembly gave their due stamps of approval. Moreover, it makes sense to first ink the FATA Interim Governance Regulation, 2018 — a set of provisional rules with which to govern the tribal areas during the adjustment period. The big takeaway from this is the repealing of Frontier Crimes Regulation (FRC); that draconian colonial overhang that is responsible for trampling on the fundamental rights as well as aspirations of the tribal people. Something that it has taken the Pakistani state more than seven decades to undo. Except that the new interim Regulation appears to have done this in name only. The ‘promotion’ of the Political Agent to Deputy Commissioner is highly problematic given the powers that come with it. These include having the authority to fine entire communities if there “appears good reason to believe” that residents of a particular village have abetted a crime, failed to arrest those involved or suppressed evidence. Then there is the question of the Council of Elders which will hear all criminal cases. This is a jirga by another name and the Deputy Commissioner enjoys the freedom to appoint its members. The most worrying part of all is how the new Regulation provides that no civil court has the jurisdiction to challenge anything in the tribal areas. Thus what happens in FATA stays in FATA; quite literally. All of which raises important questions. The most crucial being: why did the FATA Interim Governance Regulation, 2018 not go to Parliament? This is a legitimate query. We understand that there was no malevolent intent on the part of the outgoing government. That being said, this will cause problems for the new set-up. For now that the KP and Sindh assemblies are already dissolved — and with Balochistan and the Punjab completing their respective tenures tomorrow — the people of FATA and KP will likely have to wait until the next Parliament to receive clarity on several points. These include the possibility of introducing a sunset clause to the Regulation as well as resolving once and for all the issue of civilian court jurisdiction. Yet as things currently stand, the incumbent regime has effectively thrown out the baby with the bathwater. That is, in its rush to put the merger on the books — so as to avert any future stalling on this front when new assemblies are elected — it has bypassed the elected representatives of the tribal people. This “Doctrine of Necessity” is a serious misstep. Indeed, it strengthens the hands of political players such as Maulana Fazlur Rehman. The latter has never been backwards in coming forwards regarding his staunch opposition to the merger on the grounds that only a separate province would afford the people of FATA true self-determination. Sadly, the tribal people of Pakistan will have to wait until a new set-up in KP is elected to decide just how much better off they will be. In the interim. * Published in Daily Times, May 30th 2018.