Daily Times

The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) is once again in the spotlight. Thankfully this time, the discussion is not on the security situation in the area but on the much needed administrative reforms. It won’t be wrong to say that FATA has seen its share of destruction, lawlessness and most importantly bad governance. This area is being governed by the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) since 1901. This law has rightly been termed as a draconian and black law by many. It is true that the tribal population has traditionally relied upon their tribal culture, laws and dispute resolution mechanisms and the FCR was promulgated keeping them in view. However, the concentration of power in the hands of a few including the Political agent and Maliks has made the situation worse.

The years and years of fighting after Taliban takeover has made the situation out of control. A significant population of honourable tribal people has been living as internally displaced people (IDPs) for the last few years. Even though repatriation of the IDPs has started in some tribal agencies, their governance remains a key issue. This is one of the reasons why all the political stakeholders and the civil society have been calling for governance and administrative reforms in FATA and rightly so. According the report of the FATA reforms committee, a large majority of the tribal people have opted for annexation with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. However, some of the political stakeholders are against it.

Since all the stakeholders in FATA are in favour of governance and administrative reforms in the region, therefore it is important to steer the discussion towards one of the most important steps towards reformation i.e. local government elections and the subsequent formation of municipalities and the local government in tribal agencies. This will serve as one of the most important steps towards mainstreaming of FATA and will definitely push the region towards massive improvement.

A Local Government Regulation for FATA was introduced in 2012. According to the regulations, the voters will elect municipal councils in their respective areas. These councils will be empowered to extend social services to the tribal people and will also perform the role of levying taxes to a certain degree. They will also spend the development budget, however, after approval from the governor, who will be the administrative head of FATA. However, no elections have been conducted so far.

It is also important to understand that this regulation is inherently flawed. As working under the governor will not allow it the required freedom to conduct its business. A local government in a fashion similar to the ones working in other provinces will provide the much needed relief to the tribal people.

The excuse so far presented by the responsible authorities for not conducting local elections in FATA is the security situation. However, this might be true to some extent, but it is also important to know that tribal people participated in the general elections in significant numbers and elected their representatives. So this argument holds no weight.

The governor of KPK announced in the latter half of last year that local elections will take place in FATA during 2017. This definitely was a welcome statement by the governor but so far there are no signs of local government elections. All the discussion of FATA reforms has also been pushed to the back-burner. This is a grave injustice with the tribal people who have been waiting for the much needed reforms and local government elections for so many years.

It is important to understand that the real peace not just in FATA but the whole country will only be possible if governance and administrative reforms are conducted as soon as possible. This will not only help in finishing the influence of negative elements but will play a central role to mainstream the region.

The people of FATA are brave and they have definitely endured a very hard time under the Taliban regime and even as IDPs in their own country. It is high time that they are rewarded for their sacrifices in the shape of much needed administrative and governance reforms. The mainstreaming of this region will definitely be the most important step to ensure peace in the country.

The writer is a development consultant. She tweets at @GulminaBilal and can be reachedat coordinator@individualland.com