FATA reforms package

The unabated turmoil in the Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA) is largely blamed on the regions close proximity to Afghanistan wherefrom flow in two of its basic problems: Jihadi culture and narcotics. But no small contributor to this dilemma is the antiquated legal system that tribesmen inherited from their erstwhile colonial masters.
As to what stands in the way of mainstreaming the tribesmen into national life, the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) is considered as the villain of the piece. But equally cogent is the argument that the FCR cannot be completely abolished given that some of it is simply indispensable to maintaining law and order in the FATA region.
As to what provisions of the FCR should be deleted and what is retained a roundtable conference organised by the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs in Islamabad on Thursday presented a rainbow of varying points of view and diverse opinions.
That the conference was attended by almost all the political parties having stakes in the tribal region, it brings under sharper focus the imperative of rescuing this poorest segment of Pakistani population from its deep poverty and backwardness.
Presidents spokesman Farhatullah Babar informed the conference that the government would shortly announce the FATA reforms package that envisages extension of Political Parties Act to the troubled region as well as remove "harsh" provisions of the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR). How soon the reforms package would be unveiled he did not say but the debate and discussion as it took place at the conference does clearly suggest that the stakeholders nurture quite a variety of perspectives and points of views.
For instance, the ANP wants to convert FATA into a Provincially Administered Tribal Area (PATA) which would give the tribal people representation in the NWFP Assembly. But Pukhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) is opposed to changing the status of FATA. It would also like the Jirga system to be retained, strengthened and empowered through democratic means, and any change in the FCR should be in accordance with the culture of FATA tribesmen.
The Jamaat-i-Islami is for annulment of the FCR and extension of Political Parties Act to the FATA region. Their views also differ, even clash, with each others on how to restore normalcy in the Taliban-infested FATA. To what extent the reforms package the federal government intends giving would encompass these differing perceptions is difficult to predict.
But it would be certainly palatable to all if the reform package met three basic conditions. One, that the doors are opened for fuller democratisation of FATA population. Not only the region should have executive control system similar to other federating units, its representatives should sit both in federal and provincial houses of legislation.
Restrictions on political parties should be removed to facilitate party-based elections - with the help of independent media. Two, the reforms package should ensure that Article 8 of the Constitution is fully implemented in order to hold void any custom or usage which is inconsistent with constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights.
Three, the FATA population should be provided with economic opportunities equal to others, if not on preferential basis, in a productive setting. The immediate focus of all economic development programmes should be the unemployed youth, quite a big chunk of which presently exists as staple for terrorism.