Bitter medicine

IDPs returning to NWA are required to sign a “social agreement” which has some nasty surprises enshrined within

The residents of North Waziristan are trudging back to their ancestral homes, many with deep misgivings about the terms and conditions under which they do so. It will be recalled that the areas in which the displaced families live are subject to the much-hated Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) that date from the time of the British Raj. The returnees now find that they are required to sign an eight-page “social agreement”, the Samaji Mohada NWA 2015, a document that has some nasty surprises enshrined within. The political administration has added another layer to the FCR, making them even more draconian than they were originally.

There is very little ‘social’ in a positive sense about the new requirements. The preamble says that there are no restrictions on social, political and economic activity — and then goes on to iterate some stringent conditions and the penalties that will be imposed if there is failure to comply. Residents must “remain loyal to the country” (without saying who determines the quality of ‘loyalty’); and if the residents fail to take action against militants which are subsequently dealt with by the government, then the residents lose any right to compensation if their properties are destroyed or damaged. They may also find their NICs and passports cancelled, property impounded or destroyed and banishment as a further option. To call the new requirements ‘medieval’ understates the matter by several orders of magnitude. The returnees are placed in an almost impossible position. They are required to police the areas they live in and take action against militants who are likely to be better armed than them and could also easily outnumber them. This is a recipe for failure. Militants are as likely to move into the vacuum post-operation as they were historically. This step reveals just how little government thinking about tribal areas and their governance has evolved, and compounds the injustices that lie at the root of much of the trouble within them. We suggest an early re-think.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 1^st,  2015.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.