Mainstreaming of tribal areas: Fata to have COO to fast-track reforms

Top-level huddle decides to speed up recruitment of police and redeployment of Frontier Constabulary personnel

ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to appoint a ‘chief operating officer’ for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) in order to ‘fast-track’ the mainstreaming of the region, disregarding all the political pressure against the move.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the National Committee on the Implementation of Fata Reforms, chaired by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Friday, an official statement said. Those attending the meeting, included Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak, State and Frontier Regions (Safron) Minister Qadir Baloch, Law Minister Zahid Hamid, Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Sartaj Aziz and senior civil and military officials.

The committee took many decisions to expedite the process of implementation of Fata reforms, said the statement issued by the Prime Minister House. Abbasi directed the law minister to fast-track legislative and administrative measures for the mainstreaming of Fata so that the people in the region can have access to the fundamental rights at par with the rest of Pakistan, it added.



On the occasion, the Army Chief briefed the committee about the successes achieved in extending the writ of state throughout Fata, the steps taken for strengthening security and border infrastructure, and the development efforts during the last few years, the statement said.

A government source told The Express Tribune General Bajwa was of the view that security forces have played their role in restoring peace in Fata through successful military operations and now the onus is on the civilian leadership to consolidate on the gains of the counterterrorism drive by introducing effective reforms to sustain durable peace.

Last year, the federal cabinet approved the recommendations put forward by the Fata Reforms Committee, headed by the then adviser on foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz, which proposed Fata’s merger with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.



However, the proposals hit snags mainly because of the opposition from the government allies -- particularly the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl. Because of the political pressure, the federal government shifted its stance from ‘merger’ with K-P to ‘mainstreaming’ the region.

The source claimed Prime Minister Abbasi is willing to expedite the merger plans. Talking to a delegation of government functionaries and politicians on August 15, Abbasi had said that the status quo “has to end”, hinting at the possibility of Fata’s merger with K-P.

A PML-N leader, requesting anonymity, said that ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif had decided to accept JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s demand that Fata should not be merged with K-P. Also, some powerful leaders in PML-N K-P chapter as well as some central party leaders were also stated to be against the reform proposals. As a result the proposed reforms for the region landed in cold storage.

On the other hand, the security establishment strongly backed the proposed reforms and recommended to the government to expedite the process. Lately, the federal government decided to heed to the recommendations made by Fata Reforms Committee.



The Prime Minister House’s statement said the committee approved fast-tracked recruitment of police and redeployment of some personnel of the Frontier Constabulary, after training, to perform police functions.

The meeting decided to put in place “an appropriate administrative mechanism” for a transitional period and “to create a position of chief operating officer for the period of transition”, the statement added.

The Prime Minister told the meeting the basic purpose of these reforms “is to improve the lives of the people of Fata who have suffered enormously due to a long war, insurgency and widespread displacement in the past three decades”.

The National Committee on the Implementation of Fata Reforms was set up under the Prime Minister in March after the federal government accepted the K-P government’s demand that the Prime Minister himself oversee the Fata reforms implementation.