Six cadet colleges to be established in FATA

Source says colleges will be established in Bajaur, Mohmand, Khyber, Kurram, South Waziristan and Orakzai agencies

At least six cadet colleges will be established in different agencies of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) at a cost of Rs3.6 billion.

The colleges will be set up in Bajaur, Mohmand, Khyber, Kurram, South Waziristan and Orakzai agencies of the semi-autonomous region, Radio Pakistan quoted a source at Fata Secretariat as saying.

A cadet college is already functioning at Razmak area of North Waziristan, the source said, adding these colleges will provide better education facilities to the tribal youth to help them play an active role in national development.



In September, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif inaugurated multiple projects, including a cadet college for Wana, as part of the post-operation rehabilitation plan for Fata region. Military’s media wing, ISPR, said the college will be compatible with the best cadet colleges of Pakistan, adding the initiative will go a great length in propelling the local youth into professional colleges and change lives of their families.

Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal districts have long been affected by Taliban insurgency and home-grown militant outfits which have been carrying out several terror attacks not only against the military but also against the locals who have raised and supported vigilantes against them.



Some agencies of the Fata region along the mountainous western border became a hotbed of militants following the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

Pakistan began a long-awaited push to clear insurgent bases from the North Waziristan tribal district in June last year after a bloody Taliban attack on Karachi airport sank faltering peace talks.

Further, the army has also intensified its offensive since the Taliban's massacre of 153 people, 134 of them children, in a school in Peshawar last December.