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Friday March 29, 2024

Fata: ill-conceived policies

The sufferings of the people of Fata have no parallel in the history of this country, which they had joined voluntarily and then fought for at different fronts. In return for their sacrifices they were given poverty, backwardness, illiteracy and death. In all of Fata one finds nothing worthy of

By Ayaz Wazir
July 14, 2015
The sufferings of the people of Fata have no parallel in the history of this country, which they had joined voluntarily and then fought for at different fronts. In return for their sacrifices they were given poverty, backwardness, illiteracy and death.
In all of Fata one finds nothing worthy of being called development carried out by different governments since Independence. All that has happened in these years is that they have been used for strategic objectives at whim, by different dictators, without any regard or care for the negative repercussions such policies would have on Fata and its residents.
It is a well established fact that the people of Fata have always fought occupying forces and never tolerated subjugation without resistance. But once they decided to join Pakistan they remained peaceful and created no problems for the state despite the best efforts of inimical forces when the country was still at the embryonic stage. They defended the western border without asking for assistance from the state in the form of armed forces or monetary benefits.
History shows that, fearful of unforeseen consequences, statesmen are invariably reluctant to put their country in a frontline position in any conflict. Unfortunately, in our case a short-sighted military dictator, wilting at one phone call, hastily plunged Pakistan into a war that was not ours. Then he bragged that we were a ‘frontline ally’ of a country thousands of miles away. Disturbing the old well-established system in the tribal areas, he inducted the army into Fata with the materiel costs being borne by the US and paid to us through the coalition support fund. This not only generated hatred everywhere but those sympathetic to the war effort in Afghanistan even started fighting against our armed forces as they thought it was an extension, from the Pakistan side, of the war being waged by foreign forces in Afghanistan.
The well-disciplined institution was used by this military usurper for to obtain legitimacy with the west by sacrificing his own country’s interests to further those of the US. From being a pariah whose hand President Clinton refused to shake he became the darling of the next occupant of the White House.
Nothing was wrong with the institution. It merely did what it was ordered to do by its boss. If there was anything wrong it was so with the person at the top when he misused his position for becoming an acceptable leader in western eyes without taking into consideration the disastrous consequences of the ‘blowback’ for Pakistan.
The dictator could have avoided sending the army into Fata had he taken recourse to other available options such as making use of the collective strength and wisdom of the tribes living in that region but he did not bother to do that and instead decided to use brute force. Why that was done and the area set on fire is beyond comprehension.
Meanwhile, fighting in Afghanistan intensified and with that the number of foreign militants in Fata increased. Since there was no check on their flow into the border region and they were roaming freely in the area that encouraged the growth of local militants also. Both types started terrorising the local population by killing their notables one after another and throwing them on the roadside, in ravines and open fields with notes attached to their bodies labelling them agents of the enemy – meaning the government of Pakistan.
This went on for quite some time without any reaction from the civil and military establishment which was well-entrenched in the area but for reasons best known to them they decided to remain silent spectators and not intercede to save the very people who could be useful to them for maintaining peace.
Then the military machine started conducting operations one after another without taking the tribes people into confidence. The operations were meant to sort out militants – ‘bad’ militants, not the ‘good’ ones. The ‘bad’ ones were the foreign brand of militants attacking government installations and personnel whereas the ‘good’ ones were local militants willing to fight across the border in Afghanistan also, apart from the eastern border. This group was encouraged to thrive and also given a free hand to deal with the local population in dispute resolution which mostly resulted in swift and barbaric punishments.
The common people thus suffered the most. Military operations ended up destroying villages and market places. In the process only the locals suffered the most, with their properties razed to the ground and businesses destroyed.
Another problem they faced was the US drone attacks which killed more innocents than militants in clear violation of the UN charter and international law. Who could the locals complain to when their own government was in league with the killers? Wikileaks have revealed enough and one need not say more.
The problems of the tribesmen did not end there and worse was yet to come – in the form of the treatment meted to the IDPs. They were neither provided the required assistance at places designated for them nor allowed to go to other cities to find shelter for themselves. In the gruelling heat and under the blazing sun there were chronic shortages of water, food and shelter. And if per chance in the sweltering heat they broke the queue to get a bottle of water for their near and dear ones from the dwindling stock they were treated in a most inhumane manner without any regard for age or respectability. This was the reward for the sacrifices they rendered for our security.
No senior functionary at the level of governor or federal minister visited the Bakakhel camp to condole their deaths. If Gen Raheel Sharif, who visits Fata often and celebrates Eid with troops there, stops over at the camp to condole with the bereaved family members and assures them of punishment for those responsible it would go down very well with them and also serve to bolster the morale of others there who have till now been mainly at the receiving end of the stick.
The establishment is, I believe, seriously contemplating introduction of a package of reforms and development for Fata. This no doubt is a welcome sign and should be done as soon as possible but not without the involvement of people from there. Proposals for reforming Fata were made in the past too but could not work as they lacked the support of the people living there, having been chalked out without consulting them. Fata has already suffered tremendously from the ill-conceived policies of governments and it would not be appropriate to commit yet another such mistake.
It would, therefore, be in the fitness of things if a mechanism is evolved whereby the people of Fata are made stakeholders and given charge of the affairs of that area with the first most important task being to propose a package for reform and development. This would be the best way of doing things in Fata rather than again experimenting with proposals of outsiders who are unfamiliar with the area. This approach has not worked in the past and it will not in the future.
The choice to be made is whether to continue with such ill-conceived policies and keep fighting, or to involve the people of Fata as participating shareholders in all matters that bedevil the area.
The writer is a former ambassador.
Email: waziruk@hotmail.com