Mainstreaming FATA

There is both bad and good news regarding the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata). A draft plan recently submitted to the Fata Secretariat by the Fata Reforms Commission said that it may take another decade for the tribal region to be treated and governed like the rest of the country. The draft says that the extension of the jurisdiction of superior courts, establishment of a police force and a local government system is not immediately possible for Fata because of the “current situation of law and order”.

The bad news is clear — that the people of Fata, despite having lived under the draconian law of colonial times, the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR), for over 100 years, still have at least another decade to wait before there is some end in sight. The good news is that there is actually a possibility of an end in sight. At the end of this 10-year time frame, it will be left up to the people of Fata to decide whether they want to be part of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) or prefer to have a separate province. It has also been suggested that Fata can be represented in the K-P Assembly in the interim time. At present, the millions of residents of Fata do not have the right to appeal detention, the right to legal representation or the right to present evidence in court. Moreover, under the collective responsibility clause of the FCR, anyone can be charged with the crimes of another person from his or her tribe. These laws are far removed from any understanding of basic human rights. Just as consensus was built up for Operation Zarb-e-Azb, consensus must also be built for deciding the future of Fata so that it can be ruled according to the Constitution. The commission’s draft points out that the current situation of law and order prevents the possibility of immediate reforms in Fata, but even as we say this, it is crucial to stop for a moment and reflect on the causes behind this law and order problem and consider how there can possibly be peace in a region which is continuously being discriminated against and purposefully left behind.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 30^th, 2015.

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