Annexure

MERGER OF Ex-FATA with KP

AN OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION

Mainstreaming the people of Ex-FATA into national life was considered many times
by successive governments in Pakistan, but the plan never got materialized due to
one reason or the other. The attack on Army Public School (APS) Peshawar on 16
December, 2014 finally proved to be the agent of change in the status of FATA.
Consequent to the attack on APS. A National Action Plan (NAP) was approved by the
then PML(N) Govt, which inter-alia called for administrative reforms in FATA. A
committee under Late Mr. Sartaj Aziz was thereupon constituted and tasked to
propose a concrete way forward for political mainstreaming of FATA. The committee
after a hectic exercise of about nine months or so presented its report to the prime
minister in August 2016, wherein it was proposed to merge FATA with KP in a
transitional period of 5 years. The committee’s report was presented in the National
Assembly in the form of the bill on 18 May, 2018, which was unanimously approved
through the 25th amendment in the constitution. Since the PML(N) govt. was at the
fag of its tenure, the implementation of merger plan was therefore left to the PTI
govt, which had assumed power in August 2018. That was indeed the most
conducive time to implement the FATA reforms, as the entire tribal belt had been
cleared of all terrorist elements by the Pakistan Army through operation “Zarb-e-
Azab”. Unfortunately that did not happen due to reasons discussed in the later part
of this report. As of today, the merger has taken place but a reality check would
present a different picture. The tribal areas are in a state of suspended animation
because these are being administered through a system which a mix of the new and
old managerial practices. Such a situation is very perturbing for the local population
besides being dangerous for an area where terrorism has resurged following the
takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban in August 2021.

For public consumption certain cosmetic measure were taken by the govt. like re-
designating the former Political Agents as Deputy Commissioner and posting of
District Police Officers and Judicial Officers in the merged districts to work there
under make shift arrangements. The Deputy Commissioners were stripped of the
powers of District Magistrate leaving them to perform coordinating functions only.
Maintenance of law and order has been left to the nascent police force, which is yet
to stand on its own feet. The current wide scale agitation of the police personnel in
the merged districts against their senior officers tells the whole story.
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2. WHERE DID THINGS GO WRONG

Ignoring the recommendations of the Reforms Committee was the first mistake in
this regard. As a first step a separate body named as the Directorate of Transition
and Reforms (DTR) had to established for undertaking the implementation exercise
in collaboration with the FATA Secretariat under the supervision of the Governor.
The DTR was never established rather the already functional FATA secretariat was
also dismantled in an arbitrary manner. Similarly the Governor was also kept out of
the entire exercise. The task was instead assigned to a few departments, which
embarked upon the exercise in their own style and, in an independent manner. No
centralized mechanism was put in place to monitor their activities. The result of this
deviation from the approved strategy is in front of us. Five years down the road we
are far from achieving the targets that were set to be achieved during the
transitional period of five years.

3. RESETTING THE DIRECTION

To put the implementation exercise on the right track a separate implementing body
which may be called FATA REFORMS UNIT (FRU) be immediately set up by the
government. It should comprise of officers from the establishment, police, judiciary,
finance and P&d Departments. The FRU should be headed by a senior officer of the
PAS or PMS possessing rich experience of service in ex-FATA and in the provincial ex-
secretariat. It should work under the Chief Minister through the Chief Secretary and
its activities be monitored on regular basis by a Steering Committee consisting of
selected Administrative Secretaries, and a few parliamentarians hailing from the
merged districts. The FRU may not be an institution in perpetuity and shall be
dissolved after the merger is completed. It may be worthwhile to add here that the
Reforms Committee had strongly recommended the association of the Governor in
the implementation exercise of the merger.

4. TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR THE FRU

At the very outset the FRU should take stock of the progress made so far viz-a-viz the
implementation of the FATA Reforms. It should however focus specifically on the
following.

a. Whether or not the merger has helped in improving the security situation in
the merged districts or otherwise. Statistical data of crime, especially terrorist
acts during the last five years would present a true picture in this regard.
b. Have the levies personnel and khasadars who were converted into police been
adequately trained and equipped to function like a modern police force.

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c. Has the newly introduced judicial system been fully embraced by the people
or are they still getting their cases settled through private jirgas under the
“Riwaj”.
d. Are the newly established courts of Civil and Session Judges actually located in
the limits of the merged districts or they are performing duties while sitting in
the adjoining settled districts.
e. Ascertain the progress relating to Settlement and Registration of land in the
merged districts, a task which was supposed to be completed in the last 5
years. This was considered essential so as to enable the courts to decide cases
in the light of the available land record. An authentic land record was also a
pre-requisite for banking operations and private investments in the merged
districts.
f. Have the elected local bodies councilors been adequately trained, empowered
and encouraged to participate in governance at the local level.
g. Steps taken during the last five years for emancipation and empowerment of
women. Has the merger helped the women in getting their rights after
merger.
h. Ascertain the extent of enforcement of all national laws in the merged
districts and the difficulties faced by the local administration in this regard.
i. Initiatives taken by the local administration in bringing an attitudinal change in
the tribal people, especially the youth. This was necessary so as to help them
in throwing away the yoke of tribalism being an archaic mind set.

5.SOCIAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE MERGED AREAS

The pervasive under development of ex-FATA has its roots in history. It may be
recalled that the British had declared the tribal areas as part of their territory but
not a part of British empire. This declaration thus condemned the tribal areas to
remain undeveloped in terms of political growth and human development. The
situation should have changed after the creation of Pakistan but that did not
happen. The reason for it was the myopic approach of the self-centered elders
(Maliks) who made the Quaid-i-Azam agree for maintaining the semi-independent
status of tribal areas. As a consequence thereof the area was excluded from being
considered as a separate entity for the purposes of fiscal equalization and
allocation of funds on per capita basis. The tribal areas thus received very
nominal funding from the very beginning leaving it far behind the other provinces
in terms of socio economic development. It was only in the mid-seventies that
attention was paid to the tribal areas and allocations increased manifold. Some
basic infrastructure was constructed in the socio sectors; however the quality of
work was extremely poor due to massive corruption, and poor supervision. It was

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during the same period that a semi-independent body called the FATA
DEVEOPMENT CORPORATION (FDC) was established which carried out work in
the irrigation, mineral development, industry and skill development sectors. The
FDC was never a success story and was eventually dissolved and merged into the
FATA secretariat in 2003. It worked directly under the Governor. After merger ,
the FATA secretariat was dismantled, and all affairs of the the merged districts,
were reassigned to the provincial govt. During the period From 2003 to 2018, the
old FATA secretariat received huge fundings from the Federal govt, but the
desired uplift of the area remained a far cry. There were many reasons for this,
like mismanagement and slippages of funds.

Presently the provincial line depts, are executing all developmental projects in
the merged districts. For the time being this arrangement is fine, however big
projects requiring technical expertise like construction of Small Dams and mineral
development be assigned to the engineering branch of HQ II Corps, which may
execute these projects through the FWO or through reputable private firms. It is
also recommended to setup a Special Development Unit (SDU) for planning,
monitoring and evaluation of all developmental projects in the merged districts.
The SDU should consist of personnel possessing expertise in monitoring and
evaluation. The SDU shall also pursue the progress regarding the 10 year
development plan which had been announced by the federal govt in 2018. The
financial outlay of the plan was Rs 100 billion, under which Rs 10 billion were to
be spent in the tribal districts, annually. This was in addition to the existing annual
PSDP allocation. The major aim of the 10-year plan was to reduce the gaps in
development and per capital indicators between ex-FATA and KP.

CONCLUSION

On the face of it the integration of tribal areas into national mainstream may
appear to be a simple affair, but those familiar with the complexities of the tribal
society it would be easy to understand the difficulties involved in the process. The
task becomes all the more challenging in the face of stiff opposition to the merger
by certain well entrenched mafias like the drug traffickers, smugglers and
terrorist elements for whom a loosely administered land has been a safe haven
for illegal activities. Similarly the old privileged elders of ex-FATA opposed the
merger tooth and nail ever since the plan was announced. To seek annulment of
the merger they have also formed a called “Grand Tribal Jirga” which periodically
meets in different merged districts demanding the revival of the old status of
FATA. They have also filed a petition before the Peshawar High Court in this
regard which is pending decision. Other staunch opponents of the merger are the

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Taliban (both Pakistani and Afghan). They had expressed their strong reservations
in this regard before the Pakistani delegation which visited Kabul in mid-2022 for
negotiating a peace deal.

Highlighted above are some of the hard realities and challenges which the
implementers may face during the course of execution of the merger plan. The
implementers of the plan have to exhibit the highest sense of commitment to the
cause and work in a professional manner to complete the taks to the satisfaction
of the people. Any laxity in this regard can put the entire plan in jeopardy success
for us is therefore the only option as we would certainly not like the tribal areas
to be lost to history once again. This probably is the last chance for the people of
tribal areas to get mainstreamed into national life and become civilized citizens of
the country. Success is therefore the only option for us, as we would not like
want the tribal areas to be lost to history once again.

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