Political weightage: Right-wing parties leading Fata race

PTI has held most gatherings, followed by JI and JUI-F.

ISLAMABAD:

Right-wing parties have developed a stronger presence in the Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (Fata) than centre-right and left-wing parties ever since changes were made to laws that allow political parties to operate there.

This was revealed during a meeting held between the Fata Secretariat and the diplomatic community on Thursday, when they discussed political activities and socio-political development in Fata after the Polities Parties Order, 2002 was extended to the region in August 2011.

The most number of gatherings (26) in the region were arranged by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, according to information provided by political agents to the Fata Secretariat. The PTI is pushing an agenda of eradicating militancy by negotiating with the Taliban.

Imran Khan’s party is followed by the Jamat-e-Islami, which has held 24 gatherings, while the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-F has arranged 20 gatherings in several agencies.

The nationalist Awami National Party, which is heading the coalition government in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, and the centre-right Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz have held only five gatherings in the region.

The Pakistan Peoples Party arranged nine gatherings, while its ally the PML-Quaid has only had one meeting during the past year and a half. Mustaqbil Pakistan, a lesser-known party, has held three gatherings in Fata.

According to Fata Secretariat officials, despite the previous ban on political activities, the JI and JUI-F already had an informal presence in the region and are now eyeing to reap benefits in the upcoming general elections.



Development needs

Thursday’s meeting was also part of the Fata Secretariat’s efforts to sensitise donors about the development needs of the region before holding a donor conference later this year.

The secretary of planning and development in the Fata Secretariat, Shahzad Bangash, said that the government was also focusing on legal reforms to give people basic rights, besides restoring their confidence. He added the government was also improving basic services and added that 41% of the Rs16 billion annual development budget has been allocated to improve the well-being of the people.

However, the biggest concern of the representatives of foreign missions was the inaccessibility of the area, and difficulties in obtaining no-objection certificates from the army in the region.



Berend Groot, head of operation of the European Union’s mission in Islamabad, said that projects were being affected because of these two reasons. Ultimately, the EU will have no choice but to cancel them, he added.

However, Bangash assured the participants of the meeting, that except for some areas of Khyber Agency, there were no accessibility issues. He said the Corps Commander of the 11th Corp of the army had also given his assurance that the NoC delays would be addressed.

The region, known as a hotbed of jihad, has seven agencies and six sub-regions and has 12 seats in the National Assembly. Till the 2008 general elections, only independent candidates have been elected from the region due to a ban on activities by political parties.

In August 2011, President Asif Ali Zardari had extended the Political Parties Order 2002 to Fata to allow the formation, organisation and functioning of political parties in the seven tribal agencies and six FR regions.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 8^th, 2013.