Rebuilding the tribal areas

The year 2015 has been disastrous for the schools of the tribal areas. On December 16, the lower house of parliament was informed that 360 schools in three tribal agencies had been destroyed thus far this year, over a school a day on average, and the year is not yet over. There are parts of the region that have not been easily accessible and the destruction in those areas will be added to the total. The figures indicate the magnitude of the task ahead — 166 destroyed in North Waziristan, 139 in Khyber and 55 in South Waziristan. In addition to the schools totally destroyed, there are category ‘B’ and ‘C’ lists that detail schools partially or minimally damaged, respectively. It is not only schools; other key infrastructure has suffered as well, with 59 water schemes destroyed in Khyber, as well as 10 health facilities.

These are key community resources and for the reconstruction of schools, the cost is estimated at Rs348.758 million in total and Rs143.967 in Khyber Agency alone. The federal government has constituted a Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Unit to coordinate and facilitate the reconstruction process, which is both welcome and necessary, but the scope of devastation is akin to that of a major earthquake, is widespread and affects large and poor populations. After the 2005 earthquake, there was a policy of ‘build back better’. Thousands of schools and health facilities were completely or partially destroyed in that event. Many have been rebuilt but the process is ongoing a decade later, and in Fata the government does not have the luxury of time. The 2005 earthquake was a natural event, the destruction of schools and other infrastructure in Fata, anything but natural. It was the result of conflict between extremism on the one hand and governance on the other. Almost a million people have been displaced from their homes. There is a real urgency attached to the rehabilitation of Fata because if it is not built back better, and soon, then the extremism that lies at the root of the destruction will quickly find a way back.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 18^th,  2015.

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