Pakistan’s parliament is likely to approve a much-awaited legislation on Wednesday aimed at bringing the country’s semi-autonomous tribal region along the Afghanistan border under the federal constitution after 70 years of independence.
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The FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas) Reforms Bill is expected to be adopted smoothly after all political parties except for two voiced their support for the move that will merge the seven tribal regions with the country's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhawa (KPK) province.
If the 25-point bill expected to be tabled on Wednesday gets approved, over 5 million people of the tribal region will have representation in the KPK provincial assembly, and access to the high court and the supreme court in line with other Pakistani citizens for the first time since 1947 when the country gained its independence.
It will also provide a local government system to the tribal region for the first time, in addition to a 100 billion rupees (nearly $10 million) additional grant per year.
The tribal regions commonly known as “agencies” -- North Waziristan, South Waziristan, Bajaur agency, Kurram agency, Orakzai agency, Mohmand agency, and Khyber agency -- are currently governed under the 19th Century British era law called the FATA Crimes Regulations (FCR).
According to the system currently in place, if a person is found guilty of any crime, his whole tribe gets subjected to collective punishment.
Similarly, if a bomb blast takes place in front of a house in FATA, the entire male members of the family are held responsible for the crime on the pretext that they had failed to stop the perpetrators.
The 700-kilometer (435-mile) belt had been an epicenter of militancy since Pakistan joined the so-called war against terrorism in 2002, which saw a series of military operations and a large number of casualties. In June 2014, Pakistan army launched a series of decisive onslaughts on North Waziristan, Khyber Agency, and adjoining areas to eliminate the Pakistani militant groups’ umbrella organization, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). '80 percent want' merger
Over 5,000 suspected militants, and more than 700 troops were killed in clashes, airstrikes, and landmine blasts during this period.
The military operations had also displaced over a million tribesmen, mainly from North Waziristan and Khyber agency, of them, as per government claims, more than 95 percent have returned to their homes.
Apart from political and religious parties, the National Security Council (NSC) comprising top civilian and military leadership also threw its weight last week behind the tribal region’s merger with the KPK province, further weakening the already small opposition to the move.
A majority of political religious parties, including the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz group), and the two main opposition parties -- Pakistan Peoples party (PPP) and Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) -- along with the religious party Jamaat-e-Islami, Pashtun nationalist Awami National Party (ANP) and other regional parties also support the move.
Only the Jamiat Ulema Islam (JUI) led by Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman, which enjoys a sizeable presence in the tribal areas opposes the merger. It wants the tribal regions to become a separate province.
“More than 80 percent tribesmen want [tribal region’s] merger with the KPK province. Only 10 to 15 percent tribal lords, and their affiliates who have been taking huge advantages of the incumbent system oppose the idea,” Brig. Mahmud Shah, a Peshawar-based security analyst, told Anadolu Agency.
Shah, who had served as the administrator of the tribal region from 2002 to 2006, said a common tribesman wanted to get rid of the current arbitrary system under which he gets treated as second-class citizen.
“They [tribesmen] want to be treated like any other citizen of Pakistan,” Shah said. Separate province better solution?
Amir Afridi, spokesman for the FATA Youth Jirga (assembly) -- a conglomerate of youths from 29 political, religious, and social organizations, backed Shah.
"The approval of the legislation will be a major breakthrough for our bright future. It will not only open the doors for education but also provide local political leadership,” Afridi said.
“It [merger with KPK] will bring 24 provincial assembly seats in addition to thousands of local government seats, providing an opportunity to local youths and common tribesmen to participate in the direct elections,” he added.
Afridi’s group has been launching a pro-merger campaign for the last several years, and also met the prime minister, and the army chief earlier this year to press their demands.
On top of all that, he said, some 20,000 vacancies would be generated for tribal women in line with the reforms bill, which would bring an economic and cultural change in the otherwise backward region.
Mufti Abdul Shakoor, JUI's head for FATA, however, believes that instead of a merger, a separate province is a better solution to the tribesmen's predicaments.
"There is no debate of merger whatsoever in any other part of the country. It's just FATA, which according to some government and opposition leaders, should be merged with KPK. This is not good," Mufti told Anadolu Agency.
In case of a separate province, he argued, the tribal region would have its own governor, chief minister, state assembly and control on its resources, especially mines.
