Speakers call for mainstreaming of Fata

PESHAWAR: Speakers at a seminar on Tuesday stressed the need for mainstreaming the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) by either merging it into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa or declaring it a separate province.
“We must rise up now and demand that we won’t tolerate inhuman and undemocratic treatment anymore. We would no more accept the policies and decisions made by people other than tribal ones,” said Ayaz Wazir, a former ambassador, who was the keynote speaker on the occasion.
The two-day moot on “Future Governance Structure in Fata” was jointly organised by the Cell for Fata Studies, University of Peshawar (UoP), and Peshawar Uplift Programme Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
UoP Vice-chancellor Prof Dr Rasul Jan was the chief guest on the occasion. Senior journalists Rahimullah Yusufzai and Saleem Safi and coordinator Cell for Fata Studies Dr Hussain Shaheed Soherwardy also spoke on the occasion.
Ayaz Wazir urged the tribal people to speak up for their rights. “Unless and until the people of tribal areas fight for the rights, Fata would never get developed,” he argued.He suggested three options for the future status of the tribal areas. The first and foremost option, according to him, was that Fata should be made a separate province. He said if this is not possible then Fata should be merged with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The third option, according to him, was the maintenance of status quo, but with a separate governor for the tribal areas and an elected council there.Dr Rasul Jan said the expression of ‘Ilaqa Ghair’ used for Fata was a testimony to the fact that the tribal people have never been owned as real citizens of the country.
He said the prolonged war in the region had badly affected the tribal areas. He stressed the need for giving the people of tribal areas their rights and bringing the tribal belt on a par with the developed areas of the country.
Rahimullah Yusufzai also spoke about the three options for the future of Fata - status quo, merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and a separate province, adding that he personally was in favour of merging it with KP as the two shared so many things and were almost inseparable. “However, in a democratic Pakistan, the people of the tribal areas should be consulted before taking any decision about their fate,” he stressed.
Referring to suggestions that Fata should be divided into two provinces or southern districts of KP and tribal agencies south of Peshawar should be made into one province and other districts of KP and the three tribal agencies north of Peshawar should be turned into another provinces, he felt further divisions should not be made. “We should talk of uniting the people, not dividing them,” he remarked. In any case, he said major decisions regarding future of Fata are unlikely to be taken until security situation is improved by overcoming militancy and repatriating the more than two million displaced tribal people.
He was of the opinion that one day the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) would have to be abolished and Fata would undergo mainstreaming, but preparations should be made to achieve these objectives by giving up the policy of neglect of the tribal people and allocating more resources to the tribal areas. “Pakistan is paying the price of the neglect of Fata for 68 years after independence,” he added.
Saleem Safi said that Fata should be brought into the mainstream at all costs. He said the notion that the tribal people have their own traditions and they don’t want to come to the mainstream held no grounds.
He said the best option for Fata is to merge it with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.Earlier, Dr Hussain Shaheed Soherwordy said the history of Fata is a dynamic combination of social process, economic change and political realignments.
He said the moot was aimed at analysing peoples’ rights, development, social transformation, local government, political reforms, effective administrative system and positive governance structure.