Headcount in FATA faces legal challenge

Rights activist from South Waziristan files petition in IHC

SHABQADAR: A tribal rights activist has filed a legal challenge in the Islamabad High Court against the scheduled national census in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, taking the plea that a headcount is not possible in Fata as most tribesmen are living as temporarily displaced persons (TDPs) and the government has no strategy to count them.

In a related development, a grand Jirga in Orakzai Agency, where the census is being held today in the 1st phase, opposed the national headcount in Fata ‘until the return of all TDPs’ to their homes.

In her petition, Samreen Wazir of South Waziristan Agency states that there is little possibility of rehabilitation of all TDPs to their homes during the two-month-long headcount exercise. The government should, therefore, devise a strategy to ensure the TDPs are not left out, she says.

“While most of the tribesmen are living away from their homes due to the fluid security situation, how one can guarantee a fair census in Fata,” Samreen told The Express Tribune. “Take Orakzai Agency. The entire Muhammadzai tribe is living either in temporary shelter camps or with their relatives elsewhere in the country,” she added. “There is no column in the census form for the TDPs.”

Samreen said that the Balochistan High Court has already directed the authorities to make sure the Baloch TDPs were counted in the census. “We demand the same right for the Fata TDPs.”

She said most TDPs were reluctant to go back to their hometowns because of lack of necessary infrastructure, fluid security situation and persisting winter conditions in their areas which are already devastated by fighting between the military and Taliban militants. “If the census is conducted in such a situation, then the Fata population will decrease instead of increasing,” she added. “The government already has complete data on Fata tribesmen which could easily be included in the census.”

Meanwhile, a tribal Jirga convened at the office of the Orakzai Agency’s political agent demanded that the government devise a strategy for TDPs or else they would boycott the census. They conveyed their concerns to the political agent of Orakzai Agency.

Separately, JUI-F MNA Jamaluddin, who is also a member of the SAFRON committee, had also voiced similar concerns at a committee meeting a few days back. He had demanded that the government introduce a separate column for the TDPs in the census form.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 15^th, 2017.