It’s now or never for FATA

Army chief directs relevant authorities to “expedite return of TDPs

A recent corps commander conference discussed ‘good governance’ in the country, which has been resisted by so-called left-wing political parties and the government itself. Even the media has focused on this single issue, but everyone has ignored a very important part of the statement that came out of the meeting, which is regarding Fata. The statement highlighted the importance of finalisation of Fata reforms and concluding all ongoing JITs, and it was stated that any slowdown in this regard could undermine the effects of military operations against terrorists.

The army chief directed the relevant authorities to “expedite the return of the TDPs, overcoming all obstacles for development works in affected areas and rehabilitation of all displaced families”.

The slow pace of reforms in Fata is a root cause of bad governance. Our armed forces have been struggling for a long time to restore peace in the tribal areas. Most parts of Fata have been declared free of terrorists after the military operation. The Pak-Afghan border, too, has been made relatively safe.

The important thing now is the administration of good governance in these areas, which is the duty of the civil administration, which, unfortunately, is non-existent in these parts. The administration of the tribal areas is based on mutual understanding between the civil bureaucracy and the local population. Although the civil bureaucracy exists in Fata, a significant part of the local population has migrated to other parts of the country and is unwilling to return.

The government has formed a committee for Fata reforms, and continues to ignore the 22nd Amendment Bill presented by Fata parliamentarians. This shows that the Nawaz government still hasn’t felt the heat when it comes to expediting reforms for Fata. The major opposition political parties, such as the PPP, the ANP, the JI and the PTI have raised their voices against this state of affairs by conducting a dharna in Islamabad, against the delaying tactics and the formation of the committee. It is commonly believed that when the government wants to delay a certain process or buy time, it forms a committee. The dharna was attended by lawyers, students, journalists and rights activists from Fata, to put pressure on the government to expedite the implementation of reforms.

Despite this being a huge and historic gathering of tribal people in Islamabad, some critics believe that our vibrant media ignored it on the directive of vested interest groups within the government, which want to maintain the status quo. This state of affairs must not be allowed to continue any longer.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 9^th,  2015.