FATA development: Promises termed ‘hollow’ at workshop

Although successive governments have claimed to bring development to Fata, they have merely been hollow promises.

PESHAWAR:

Although successive governments have claimed to bring development, peace and give due rights to the people in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), they have merely been hollow promises.

This was said by Zar Ali Khan Afridi, coordinator FCSN, at a three-day organisational management training workshop organised by Strengthening Participatory Organization (SPO) in Peshawar on Friday. The workshop was arranged for the members of civil society organizations of Frontier Regions to enhance their capacity.

Afridi criticised the development work in Fata and termed the area backward. While addressing the participants, he encouraged the youth and called for the people of Fata to be an agent of change. He added that peace promoting and cultural activities, being pursued by the SPO in Khyber and Mohmand, will be extended to all agencies gradually.

He spoke of the violation of human rights, particularly the Frontier Crimes Regulation, which was promulgated by the British in 1901.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 16^th, 2011.