Awami National Party (ANP) will merged Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) into Provincially Administered Tribal Area (Pata) that will have representation in the NWFP assembly.
"This will be the first step of the ANP after government formation in center and provinces," ANP information secretary Haji Mohammad Adeel told Business Recorder on Sunday over the telephone from Peshawar.
We are having Pata areas in the province. They have their distinct features, but these areas have the right to send their representatives to the NWFP assembly, he said.
The step is believed to major breakthrough in the sense that central government will cease administrative control over the troubled tribal belt bordering Afghanistan.
In the present scenario, this move looks to be a difficult option to pursue as the Fata-based militants always sabotaged the peace efforts in the past. The move is also difficult if it remained without the support of the army.
However, Haji Adeel says that PML (Q) at center and the MMA in the NWFP failed to take even a single initiative to sort out political solution of the Fata crisis. "We will launch these efforts in collaboration with other parties including the leading PPP in National Assembly-elect," said Adeel.
According to some analysts, ANP grabbed most of NWFP assembly seats in February 18 vote just because the party gave a hope to the people that the party will do something for peaceful solution of Fata troubles.
The MMA, which had the government in NWFP, failed to woo the voters due to its not up-to-the mark role in bringing normalcy to Fata. The analysts suggest that every development must be taken with a national commitment at the central level. Haji Adeel also admitted the ANP can do nothing on its own. We will have collaboration of other parties to this end. Without the support of other political forces, nothing could be accomplished, he added.
As first step, he said, ANP will introduce a constitutional amendment to extend Political Parties Act to FATA. Another amendment will also be introduced to extend the ambit of Supreme Court and High Court to Fata. This is strategy under which we want to reform the tribal areas, said Adeel.
He admitted that this would not be an easy task. This will require the consent of the tribal people. They will be taken into confidence on each and every issue. Without their consent, the ANP or any other party could not do anything.
Some analysts are of the view that the political parties would require reaching a national consensus that they are united on reforms in Fata. Furthermore, the United States will also be needed to support such an initiative as the Bush administration always saw any political solution through jirga with suspicion in the recent past.
The US did not approve the peace accords the former NWFP governor and the army had reached with the people in North Waziristan and South Waziristan. So the peace efforts in future by the next government will be no doubt a challenging job in the context of having support of the Washington.
They are of the view that ANP and the PPP are close to each other on the issue of reforming FATA. In its election manifesto, the PPP has already hinted that the party will look into the merger of tribal areas with NWFP. Both parties will also look into possibility of granting more autonomy to Fata and make the area another province if majority tribal people want another autonomous province from the center.
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