Pakistanis from Khyber to Karachi, and from Khuzdar to Khanewal, need to think about the so-called “Wild, Wild, West” of Pakistan. What is meant here is the FATA region. We have glamorized FATA inhabitants in our movies, folklore, literature, and poetry. We admire them for their character. WAKE-UP PAKISTANIS:THERE IS URGENT NEED TO BRING FATA INTO THE TWENTY FIRST CENTURY
PART 1
Tribal Agencies & Frontier Regions
| Name | Abbr. | Status | Adm. | Capital | A (km²) | C 1981-03-01 | C 1998-03-01 | E 2008-01-01 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bājaur | BAJ | Trib | FATA | Khār | 1,290 | 289,206 | 595,227 | 903,039 | |
| FR Bannu | FRB | Dist | FATA | 745 | 63,213 | 19,593 | 24,244 | ||
| FR Dera Ismāil Khān | FRD | Dist | FATA | 2,008 | 55,824 | 38,990 | 48,247 | ||
| FR Kohāt | FRK | Dist | FATA | 446 | 57,245 | 88,456 | 113,743 | ||
| FR Lakki | FRL | Dist | FATA | 132 | 16,149 | 6,987 | 8,646 | ||
| FR Peshāwar | FRP | Dist | FATA | 261 | 37,061 | 53,841 | 66,816 | ||
| FR Tānk | FRT | Dist | FATA | 1,221 | 30,183 | 27,216 | 33,677 | ||
| Khyber | KHY | Trib | FATA | Landi Kotal | 2,576 | 284,256 | 546,730 | 797,931 | |
| Kurram | KUR | Trib | FATA | Pārachinār | 3,380 | 294,362 | 448,310 | 571,518 | |
| Mohmand | MOH | Trib | FATA | Ghalānai | 2,296 | 163,933 | 334,453 | 505,023 | |
| North Wazīristān | NWA | Trib | FATA | Mīram Shāh | 4,707 | 238,910 | 361,246 | 458,762 | |
| Orakzai | ORA | Trib | FATA | 1,538 | 358,751 | 225,441 | 278,964 | ||
| South Wazīristān | SWA | Trib | FATA | Wāna | 6,620 | 309,454 | 429,841 | 519,736 | |
| Tribal Areas | FATA | FTerr | 27,220 | 2,198,547 |
3,176,331
|
3,930,419 | |||
| Pakistan | PAK | Islāmābād | 796,096 | 84,253,644 | 132,352,279 | … |
- Portal of the Government of NWFP (web).
The FATA secretaritat is located in Peshāwar.
The headquarter of Orakzai in Kalāya could not be occupied; now it is located nearby Hangu.
The frontier regions (FR) are governed by the corresponding towns in the North-West Frontier Province.
Headquarters
| Name | Adm. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Ghalānai | MOH | … | |
| Khār | BAJ | … | |
| Landi Kotal | KHY | … | |
| Mīram Shāh | NWA | … | |
| Pārachinār | KUR | … | |
| Wāna | SWA | … |
Pakistanis from Khyber to Karachi, and from Khuzdar to Khanewal, need to think about the socalled “Wild, Wild, West” of Pakistan. What is meant here is the FATA region. We have glamorized FATA inhabitants in our movies, folklore, literature, and poetry. We admire them for their character. Their sense of honor, integrity, bravery, and loyalty is a part of Pakistani legends. in 1947, FATA opted for Pakistan NOT to merge with Afghanistan. We owe a debt to the people of FATA. But, time has come that all Pakistanis dig deep into their soul, as to how this region has been treated in 65 years of Pakistan’s history. The independence of the spirit of people of FATA has kept them in the backwaters of civilization. Yes, we’ve had a few generals, a minister or two, an ambassador or two, and some extremely brave women, who have defied the tribal customs to take the path of education. But, FATA has remained the soft underbelly of Pakistan. People of FATA live in abject poverty and misery. Education is non-existent. the area is still choked by archaic customs. Pakistan should establish a Development Corp, ( like the US Peace Corp) of educated Pakhtuns from KPHK, to serve as volunteers to aid in the development of the most backward area of Pakistan. Pakhtun culture and FATA culture are interchangeable. KPHK people understand FATA’s problems better than any other Pakistanis. They should spearhead the effort to atone for the sins of neglect Pakistan has committed against FATA. It is good to know that Gen.Kayani is paying special attention to the needs of the people of FATA. But, it is height of callousness and insensitivity of Zardari and his cronies of deliberately neglecting the people of FATA. The Pakistani treasury money stolen by Mr.Zardari to build and sell-off Surrey Mahal, the Dubai Mahal, the Texas Mahal, the Brittany, France Mahal, and the Cayman Island Properties should be recovered from him and spent solely for the development of FATA. This money belongs toFATA has provided Pakistan Army with the creme de la creme of its youth. It is time Pakistani people start giving back to FATA. Its people can be part of the mainstreamed, as long as we respect there culture, traditions, and mores. FATA’s development has to be tailored according the sociological and anthropological factors governing its culture. There is thirst for education, infrastructure, health, clean water, commercial and business opportunities in FATA. Rest of Pakistan should leave its decadent myopic thinking about the people of FATA. There needs to be a shift in paradigm, FATA needs to be treated on equal footing as Balochistan, and given higher priority in Federal funding than the Punjab, Sindh, and KPHK. It is about time FATA is either merged with Khyber Pakhtunkwa Province, or become the fifth province of Pakistan with as much autonomy, as the other four provinces…PTT Editor’s Comment
COMMENTARY
Will Fata ever be developed?
Nothing can be more absurd and farther from the truth than the rhetoric regarding development of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas in order to bring it at par with the rest of the country. Every dignitary visiting Fata promises this but nothing happens thereafter. This is what the governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has said in an address to a jirga of selected maliks at Ghallanai in Momand Agency, as reported in The News on March 9. Another news item in the same paper belittles his claim when describing the dismal condition of a hospital in North Waziristan. He should have paid more attention to the hospital than making empty promises to develop the tribal areas.
The hospital suffered heavy losses when security officials blew up a nearby building in the main market of Miran Shah in retaliation for a rocket fired by a miscreant from that direction.
Upon the written instructions of the prime minister for remedial measures an inquiry committee was constituted which, after thorough investigation, sent its report recommending immediate steps for repairs to the hospital. A period of more than four months has passed since then but no action has been taken so far, despite availability of funds under the account of that tribal agency. Let us not forget that since it is the main general hospital in the area the entire population is dependent on it for medical treatment.
A lukewarm reaction like this compels people to believe that government functionaries responsible for administration of that area are not bothered to resolve their problems. Their hesitation to mix with the people and sharing of facilities that are available to them with the tribesmen have deprived these functionaries of opportunities to acquire firsthand knowledge of their sufferings. Facilities available to them are totally different from what the local inhabitants can have. When he requires medical attention an official is flown to better hospitals elsewhere in the country, whereas a local needing similar facilities is refused, very often, travelling by road in the name of security hazards.
Rules for them are made by others, like the much trumpeted reforms where the FCR has been slightly amended and the Political Parties Act extended to the tribal areas. But that was done another draconian rule under the name of Regulation in Aid of Civil Power was imposed on Fata, which has rendered the reforms meaningless.
It is not that the tribesmen could not elect representatives to parliament, or faced other problems in the conduct of elections there. They had the right to vote and were electing representatives on the one-man-one-vote basis, right from 1997 when adult franchise was extended to that area. The real problem that they face is that after electing members to parliament where, under Article 247(b) of the Constitution they are not allowed to make laws for the area that they represent. This prerogative is that of the president alone. Unless he agrees to share it with them in the parliament they will not be able contribute. Not will those who are going to be elected on party basis in the coming elections.
Fata cannot be developed simply by repeating pledges. The tribesmen have heard them so often that the promises have lost their meaning for them. They do not take it seriously any more. They see it as a joke when uttered by a dignitary addressing jirgas like the one in Ghallanai.
The governor, being an agent of the resident for Fata, is supposed to give him advice in the best interest of the people of that area, which unfortunately is not the case when one looks at the implications of the Regulation in Aid of Civil Power imposed there. The regulation took away whatever little rights were available to the tribesmen under the draconian clauses of the FCR. One wonders how he will return to the legal profession and what the barrister will do with his law degree when the regulation chases him to the bar after coming to an end of his term as governor of that area. Will he call it off now or tender an apology to the people of Fata, only time will tell.
Another important factor that contributes to the backwardness of Fata is the absence of civil government in that areas after 9/11. One cannot recall a single visit by a senior government functionary to the area, let alone the president or the prime minister, to assure the people of government support. It has left everything to the army to look after. Even civil projects like construction of roads, schools and colleges are done by the army. The civil leadership does not bother to come forward for inauguration of these projects, like they do elsewhere in the country.
Their claims of undertaking developmental projects before 9/11, or by the army now, will be an overstatement. No doubt the army has constructed some roads and opened schools and cadet colleges in the area, but that is the only face of the government there. In any case, if looked at with a cool mind and judged with a sense of responsibility, this was the tribesmen’s due and it should have been done long before during the past 64 years.
Experiments of inefficient rulers have destroyed Fata more than developing it in any sense. The reasons are simple. There is no involvement of the local people in the policymaking process or in administering that area. They have not experienced a government of the type that we see in the settled areas where local MPAs and MNAs become ministers or part of the government machinery for smooth running of the administration there. In Fata the system of governance is conducted by government servants. Unless this attitude is changed and local people are included in the policymaking process and running of the administration, development will remain a far cry.
This unfair treatment has forced the people of that area to demand that Fata should be made a province so that its people have a government of their own like elsewhere in the country, and develop their area on a fast track. Only they can Fata come at par with the rest of the country.
In case that was not acceptable then the governor of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa should be selected from Fata to give the tribesmen their due. And even if that was somehow not possible, then a separate governor for Fata should be appointed to address their sense of deprivation. Short of this, the rest is simply political gimmickry and will have no impact on development of the area or the people there.
The writer is a former ambassador who hails from FATA. Email: [email protected]
PART 2
The excerpts below are from the article at URL:
http://pakistansurvey.org/ (Please note this survey was conducted by a NEOCON organization with many Jewish members, some of them like Peter Bergen who went all around FATA, without any security clearance! )
Even the United States, which constantly showers this region with drones could expiate for these genocidal activities by helping people of FATA develop and prosper. The cost of one drone rocket could educate and vaccinate 1000 children in FATA.
Few places in the world have assumed as much importance for the United States and its allies since 2001 as Pakistan’s northwestern tribal regions, which have served as a base for the mix of militants seeking to attack the governments, militaries and civilians of the United States, Afghanistan, Pakistan and others. Yet our understanding of this region – its politics and history, U.S. involvement there, and the opinions of those who call it home – is painfully limited.
This project aims to help bridge that knowledge gap, by combining three streams of work from the New America Foundation’s Counterterrorism Strategy Initiative: A first-ever poll of sensitive political issues in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan (FATA); New America’s on-going monitoring of U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan, and our series of of in-depth analyses on politics and militancy in Pakistan’s tribal areas, written by local Pakistani researchers and other regional experts.
Drone Strikes:
Do you support or oppose United States military drone strikes by air inside FATA today?
Public Opposition to the U.S. Military and Drone Campaign
Nearly nine out every ten people in FATA oppose the U.S. military pursuing al-Qaeda and the Taliban in their region. Nearly 70 percent of FATA residents instead want the Pakistani military alone to fight Taliban and al- Qaeda militants in the tribal areas.
TRIBAL CREED IN FATA FOR 5000 YEARS
An Eye for an Eye
therefore,
AN AERIAL DRONE ATTACK IN FATA, A HUMAN DRONE (SUICIDE) ATTACK on ISAF IN KABUL AND PAK ARMY IN URBAN AREAS OF PAKISTAN
The intensity of opposition to the American military is high. While only one in ten of FATA residents think suicide attacks are often or sometimes justified against the Pakistani military and police, almost six in ten believe these attacks are justified against the U.S. military. (The United Nations has determined that many of the suicide attackers in Afghanistan hail from the Pakistani tribal regions.)
More than three-quarters of FATA residents oppose American drone strikes. Indeed, only 16 percent think these strikes accurately target militants; 48 percent think they largely kill civilians and another 33 percent feel they kill both civilians and militants. Directed by the Central Intelligence Agency, missiles are launched from unmanned drone aircraft in the FATA region of Pakistan.
Foreign Groups
Do you support or oppose the presence of the following groups inside FATA today? Majority Oppose
Arab and foreign Al Qaeda fighters-Oppose
Afghan Taliban fighters (led by Mullah Omar)-Oppose
FATA Residents Reject Al-Qaeda and the Taliban
Opposition to American policies in the region does not mean, however, that the people of FATA embrace either Al-Qaeda or the Taliban. More than three-quarters of FATA residents oppose the presence inside their region of Al-Qaeda and over two-thirds the Pakistan Taliban (60 percent oppose the Afghan Taliban led by Mullah Omar).
Indeed, if Al-Qaeda or the Pakistani Taliban were on the ballot in an election, less than one percent of FATA residents said they would vote for either group.
Opinions of the U.S.
U.S. aid for school construction and teacher training in FATA
U.S. increasing visas for people in FATA to work or study in the United States
Withdrawal of U.S. military from Afghanistan
U.S. brokering a comprehensive Middle East peace between Israelis and Palestinians
FATA Residents Want Different American Policies in the Region
What Would improve your opinion of the United States?
What is interesting about our findings, however, is that the intense opposition to the U.S. military and the drone program is not based on general anti-American feelings. Almost three-quarters of the people inside the tribal regions said that their opinion of the United States would improve if the U.S. increased visas for FATA residents and educational scholarships in the United States, withdrew the American military from Afghanistan or brokered a comprehensive peace between Israelis and Palestinians. A majority even said their opinions of the United States would improve a great deal. Two-thirds said that policies such as American aid for education and medical care would improve their opinions as well.
This dramatic willingness to think better of the America demonstrates a notable lack of deep-seated hostility. For many FATA residents, opposition to the United States is based on current American military policy, not any intractably held anti-American beliefs.
Opinions of the U.S.
U.S. aid for school construction and teacher training in FATA
U.S. increasing visas for people in FATA to work or study in the United States
Withdrawal of U.S. military from Afghanistan
U.S. brokering a comprehensive Middle East peace between Israelis and Palestinians
FATA Residents Want Different American Policies in the Region
What Would improve your opinion of the United States?
What is interesting about our findings, however, is that the intense opposition to the U.S. military and the drone program is not based on general anti-American feelings. Almost three-quarters of the people inside the tribal regions said that their opinion of the United States would improve if the U.S. increased visas for FATA residents and educational scholarships in the United States, withdrew the American military from Afghanistan or brokered a comprehensive peace between Israelis and Palestinians. A majority even said their opinions of the United States would improve a great deal. Two-thirds said that policies such as American aid for education and medical care would improve their opinions as well.
This dramatic willingness to think better of the America demonstrates a notable lack of deep-seated hostility. For many FATA residents, opposition to the United States is based on current American military policy, not any intractably held anti-American beliefs.
While the United States’ military, as well as Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters, enjoy little popular support in the region, the people overwhelmingly support the Pakistani Army. Nearly 70 percent back the Pakistani military pursuing Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters in the Tribal Areas. By a significant margin, the most popular individual among the people of FATA is General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the Pakistani Army Chief of Staff.
And even though American drone attacks are strongly opposed, the public’s approval of the drones program actually almost splits even if those attacks were carried out by the Pakistani military instead. Indeed, when asked how FATA should be governed, 79 percent say it should be governed by the Pakistani military, followed by FATA becoming a separate province of Pakistan (70 percent). Becoming part of Afghanistan was the most unpopular choice.
Most Important Issues of FATA, the Jugular Vein of Pakistan
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- Drone attacks
- Lack of jobs
- Lack of schools and education
- Lack of good roads and transportation
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- Drone attacks
- Lack of jobs
- Lack of schools and education
- Lack of good roads and transportation
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Priorities of the People of FATA are Unemployment and Education
Unemployment is very high in FATA, with only 20 percent of respondents in our survey saying they were working full-time. Indeed, lack of jobs was chosen as the most important problem in the region by 95 percent of those surveyed. This was closely followed by lack of schools, good roads and security, poor health care and corruption of local official officials. Lesser problems to be addressed were, in descending order of importance: drone attacks, Taliban and foreign fighters and problems involving refugees.
Despite the reputation that the people in FATA are socially conservative, nine out of every ten people identified lack of education and schools as their most important problem. Indeed, building new schools was chosen as a high priority for both boys and girls.
In terms of administering justice in the tribal regions, the least popular option was having justice delivered by the Taliban, with only 12 percent believing this to be very important. By contrast, nearly two-thirds chose being governed by local tribal leader.
