Speakers say civil admin failed to mitigate tribal people miseries

PESHAWAR: Speakers at the concluding ceremony of a three-day event here on Wednesday said that the civil departments failed to play an effective role to mitigate the miseries of the tribal people after the merger due to which the military had to prolong their stay in the tribal areas.

“Army’s pullout from Swat has been completed. However, in the merged districts they are still deployed. Its early withdrawal from the former tribal areas would create another vacuum, which the Taliban militants may easily fill out. Therefore, the army should stay there until the civil administration is fully trained and could maintain its writ,” said Brigadier Saad Mohammad, while speaking on the occasion.

The workshop titled “community resilience activity” was also addressed by former chief justice Peshawar High Court Justice Muhammad Ajmal Mian, chairman, International Relations University of Peshawar Prof Dr Hussain Shaheed Soherwordy and others.

Brigadier Saad said that the war in Afghanistan brought foreign people to the tribal areas of Pakistan and the local system - administration and jirga -got disturbed there. A vacuum was created and then operations were launched against the militants, he said.

Army was moved into the tribal areas under tough circumstances. The army is not an institution trained in rebuilding and reconstruction. Army carries guns and tanks, which are instruments of destruction and so did the Taliban,” Brigadier Saad said.

“The local people were displaced and only the army and Taliban were left in the former tribal areas. The 20 years of war in the tribal belt would be considered as the biggest tragedy of this region”, he said.

During the war the tribal elders were disgraced and the political administration suffered serious damage. Massive destruction was seen in the tribal agencies, he added. Therefore the need for reforms was badly felt, he maintained.

There were two options for reforms — to create a separate province for the tribal belt, which was not practically possible and to merge the tribal agencies with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The second option was implemented, he said.

But after the merger, the civilian administration and the department failed to play an effective role and of course they faced big challenges.

He urged the tribal people to cooperate with the military as well as civil administration so that they could get fruits of the reforms.

Speaking on the occasion, Justice (Retired) Muhammad Ajmal Mian said before the merger of defunct tribal areas, all powers of the executive, judiciary and law enforcing agencies were centralized in political administration, which were often misused rather abused.

People were deprived of their fundamental rights. Hence there was massive resentment against political administration and there was a general demand for civil fundamental rights and equality of citizenship, he said.

On merger, the provisions of the Constitution have been extended to tribal areas which include fundamental rights and equality of citizens which are guaranteed by the extension of the jurisdiction of the High Court and Supreme Court of Pakistan, he added.

Dr Hussain Shaheed Soherwordy spoke about Fata reforms and their implementation. He said everyone is expecting that the reforms may be implemented and change may come immediately. “Whenever there is a change in system or merger of an area into another, it always takes time, which is referred to as the transition period,” he said.

During the 10 years strategic period for the Fata reforms, the change would definitely be seen and felt. He said the local government elections should be held immediately so that the people may realize that they are the owners of the land.