FATA’s begging bowl

Congratulations everyone! A landmark victory has been won by the tribal parliamentarians. They have secured 2000 lungees (allowances) from the prime minister in return for their support to the controversial RGST bill in parliament, as reported by The News of December 3, 2010. What an achievement! They are taking FATA back to the Stone Age.
It would not be out of place to remind them of what the Quaid had said in his address to a Tribal Jirga in Peshawar on April 17, 1948, “Pakistan wants to help you and make you, as for as it lies in our power, self-reliant and self sufficient and help in your educational, social and economic uplift, and not be left as you are dependent on annual doles, as has been the practice hitherto which means that at the end of the year you were no better off than beggars asking for allowances, if possible a little more.” I wish they had not restricted themselves to the begging part but read the next sentence from the same address which says, “we want to put you on your legs as self-respecting citizens who have the opportunities of fully developing and producing what is best in you and your land.”
This is exactly what the people of FATA, particularly the younger generation, want. They do not want to run around carrying begging bowls for increases in allowances, as was the norm in the colonial era. They want to have equal opportunities, as promised by the Quaid, that are available to other citizens of the country.
They want a change, and in order to change for the better they need the required opportunities which only the government can bring about by changing the system of governance that it has in that area. It needs to involve the locals in policy-making decisions rather than continue treating them as though they were colonial subjects to whom terms could be dictated.
The ‘political agent’ system that has continued to operate in FATA right from day one of the creation of the country in 1947 needs revamping. The FCR (Frontier Crimes Regulations) through which the tribal area is governed does no good except keeping it totally isolated from the rest of the world. It discourages interaction between people living in settled areas with their brothers in FATA. It gives sweeping powers to the political agent although after 9/11 it is the army that has been calling the shots. Nothing can be brought in or taken out of FATA without a written permission called permit which is only ‘available’ at a certain price. Similarly, no project can be undertaken without the consent of the political agent. Thus everything revolves around him.
All officers, civil or military, are alike in bringing miseries upon the people in the tribal areas. The political agent system has kept the area under-developed for decades. The army has not done any better. FATA is as under-developed as it was centuries ago. Our becoming an ally in this war on terror has literally ruined the area in every sense.
Massive funds are pouring in from foreign countries but conditions in FATA have gone from bad to worse in the last ten years. The government of Pakistan seems to have failed in understanding the psyche of the people there and Islamabad/Rawalpindi treats them like enemies rather than citizens of Pakistan having equal rights. It has never reposed enough confidence in them to have made them stakeholders in running the affairs of their own areas but has preferred to govern them through proxies who, for their own pecuniary interests, succeeded in creating a wedge between the government and the tribesmen. Similarly the government of the United States of America has also failed. Instead of rewarding the people for the services they rendered for making the US the only Superpower, it has resorted to killing them on a daily basis with the connivance of our government, as confirmed recently by the Wikileaks disclosures.
The tribesmen are not enemies of anyone including the US. They only want to live in peace and let others live in peace. The problem lies with Islamabad/Rawalpindi in not understanding the proud nature of the people in the tribal areas. They have never accepted dictates nor will succumb to them now. They need to be treated with honour and dignity and in accordance with their centuries-old tribal customs and traditions.
FATA is on everyone’s agenda except our leaders in Islamabad. Outsiders organise seminars, conferences and encourage interaction and discussions to find ways and means to improve the quality of life of the people in those areas so that they may come at par with the rest of the country, while our leaders hibernate in palatial houses in the bunkered city of Islamabad not pushed in the least about visiting the area.
Some writers lay emphasis on education while others advocate employment through development, and yet others find a remedy through merger of FATA with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa(KP). There is no doubt that these are some of the important areas where a lot needs to be done. But how and at what pace it should be done is the million-dollar question. We experienced the political agent system for decades and have now seen the army as well, both having failed miserably.
To redress the situation the government needs to take corrective measures instead of resorting to the old rotten system. It needs to involve the locals in policy decisions, even hand over the responsibility to them for development in their areas. The governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa seems to have borrowed someone else’s proposal by constituting councils/committees in each tribal agency but that is bound to fail because the moving factor behind that proposal was a tribesman holding the post of governor and not an outsider who has nothing at stake in FATA.
The government needs to take the situation in FATA seriously and start consultations with the tribesmen. It is unfortunate that neither Islamabad nor Washington catered to FATA while formulating policies for Afghanistan. FATA and Afghanistan cannot be separated. What happens in one affects the other. The US has announced its strategy to begin withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan from July 2011 and the culmination of their combat forces by 2014. What strategy has Pakistan devised to meet that requirement? Will FATA continue to be used as a playground for the Great Game or will peace return to the area?
The challenges that the area faces today demand contribution from the tribesmen as well. They cannot absolve themselves of the responsibilities at this critical juncture. They need to wake up and break the begging bowls which they have been carrying for the last 63 years. They have to come out and demand what is their due right in this country for which they have rendered tremendous sacrifices. Nothing in this world is for free. No government whatsoever will develop them or their area unless they wake up from their deep slumber.

Email: waziruk@hotmail.com
The writer is a former ambassador from the FATA.