The commission is chaired by Prime Minister’s Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz and includes Minister for States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON), Lt. General (R) Abdul Qadir Baloch, former governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan, PM’s Adviser on National Security Lieutenant General (R) Nasser Khan Janjua and Federal Minister Zahid Hamid as it members.
According to Sartaz Aziz, the commission members have completed visits to all the seven agencies of FATA and have met various stakeholders, including tribal elders, government officials, and members of civil society of FATA, among others. The commission was formed after a heated debate in the country about the future constitutional and political status of FATA. Because, according to various stakeholders, experts and observers, the present political and constitutional arrangement of FATA has been the underlying reason for the multidimensional problems there. Therefore, political and constitutional changes were necessary. We have also been arguing in these lines that the indeterminate political and constitutional status has been contributing to the crisis and conflict in FATA. Because it has resulted in a power vacuum and the militant and terrorist groups of all hues took full advantage of the situation to make the region their fiefdom. Fortunately, our emphasis in these lines have been lent an ear to by the government of Pakistan.
The formation of a commission to suggest to the government the required and best suited political and constitutional changes in FATA was extremely important in the context of the military Operation Zarb-e-Azb in North Waziristan and rest of FATA. According to military authorities in Pakistan, Operation Zarb-e-Azb is in its last stages and there has been a general restoration of the state writ in FATA after more than a decade of conflict. Then the Temporary Displaced Persons (TDPs) from FATA, which number more than three to four million individuals, have to be completely repatriated before the end of the current year. So after the military operations there ought to be post-conflict stabilization in FATA and in this regard the most important measure is to determine the exact constitutional and political status of FATA. This would provide the framework for further reforms and development.
At the moment FATA constitutes a region which is directly ruled from Islamabad with civil servants hailing from the adjoining Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, including officers domiciled in FATA. Governor KPK is head of the administration of FATA and acts as the agent of the federal government for FATA. In other words the governor, who is titular head of KPK, basically oversees the administrative affairs of FATA. Importantly, FATA is neither a province nor a federating unit of Pakistan, while the laws passed by the parliament of Pakistan are not enforceable there, as the superior courts of Pakistan, according to the constitution of Pakistan, do not have any jurisdiction in FATA. Instead the day-to-day administrative affairs of FATA are run through the British Colonial era legal framework, the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR). Constitutionally, the president of Pakistan is authorized to extend any set of laws to the tribal areas, or change their political or administrative position. All this shows that FATA has hitherto been a political and legal hotchpotch.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Al Qaeda and other local and foreign militant and terrorist groups like Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) etc., with their unprecedented terrorism in Pakistan have completely changed the ground situation in the tribal areas. The moth-eaten legal and administrative system of FATA has been given a decisive blow by the insurgency. So in the post-conflict situation the region needs a complete new set of political, legal and administrative structures.
There are four main options before the FATA Reforms Commission, and even generally. These include elevating the status of FATA to that of a province; merging FATA with KPK; Creating a FATA council a la Gilgit-Baltistan, or maintaining the status quo. While one does not know what would be the final recommendation of the FRC, but the two most viable options are: giving the tribal areas the status of a province or create a FATA Council. The best case scenario would be to make FATA a new province. However, if due to capacity issues it is not possible immediately, then practically there is no other option but to form a FATA Council like in Gilgit-Baltistan. Eventually, the ultimate solution to the crisis in FATA would be to give them the status of a province. Hopefully, the FRC under Sartaz Aziz would make the same recommendation.
In case it is recommended that FATA should be merged with KP province, then this would be tantamount to inviting disaster. This is despite the fact that a small but vocal section of FATA civil society, the FATA Political Alliance, is trying to impose its desire of merging FATA with KPK. The Pakthun nationalist Awami National Party (ANP) has also been campaigning for merging FATA with KPK. While a sizable majority of FATA’s social leadership is against it. The most intriguing aspect and demand of merging FATA with the KPK is that the people of KPK observably are almost entirely against the merger. Therefore, if the FRC and the government even have to take the decision of merging FATA with KPK, they must first hold a referendum in both FATA and KPK.
If this does not transpire, the merger would sow the seeds of future conflict between residents of FATA and residents of KPK. Equally importantly the merger of FATA with KPK would result in a big province that would be too unwiedly to manage. Since long, people of FATA and, particularly, since the creation of KPK (formerly NWFP) in 1901 by the British colonial rulers of India, the tribal areas have been dependent for most of their basic needs on KPK.
Merger would make FATA entirely dependent upon KPK and in the process this would be an unbearable burden on the small economy and infrastructure of KPK. The ANP has been supporting merger of FATA with KPK in order to fulfill its desire of extending its parochial political constituency without calculating the risk involved which no government will manage.
Whereas the exponents within FATA civil society, of merger of FATA with KPK, are only pursuing their vested professional and financial interests as they do not have the platform to pursue their careers in FATA. But they fail to understand that if FATA gets the status of a province, they would have the very forums and institutions which would provide them best opportunities to develop their careers.
Keeping in view the merits of different options for political and constitutional reforms in FATA, making FATA a separate province is the best option, while the other viable option is to create a FATA Council.
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