Major reforms?

Ever since independence, the successive governments and the political leaders have been expressing their resolve to repeal the FCR, integrate the tribal areas with rest of the country and grant political and fundamental rights to its people, as guaranteed in the Constitution of Pakistan. But regrettably none of them exhibited the political will and the determination to take the plunge.
Resultantly, the people of these areas continued to be governed under a very oppressive and most obnoxious legal framework promulgated about hundred years ago by a colonial power to serve its own interests.
It is, however, heartening to note that after 64 years of independence, finally a beginning has been made towards that promised national integration and granting of fundamental rights to the 15 million people of Fata, through the signing of two orders by the President namely: Fata and Pata Regulation Bill 2011 and Extension of Fata Political Parties Order 2002 on 12th August, 2011.
Although the FCR has not been repealed, the step taken by the government represents a major breakthrough that will set into motion an irreversible process of change in Fata and eventually its integration with the rest of the country. The initiative is, as the proverb goes, though late but good.
Under the FCR, the political administration could arrest any person and send him to jail for three years without trial and could even extend it indefinitely. Women and children could be arrested and sent to jail under Territorial Responsibility. Likewise, under the Collective Responsibility clause of the FCR, the whole tribe could be arrested or penalised for any crime committed by the member of that tribe. The people did not have any avenue available to them to seek redress of their grievances against the excesses of the administration or to protect their fundamental rights.
Through the Regulation Bill 2011, a revolutionary change has been introduced in regard to the protection of the fundamental rights of the people of Fata. They have been granted the right to bail and it has been made mandatory for the administration to produce the arrested person before the concerned authority within 24 hours, as is the case in other areas of the country. Now they will be able to lodge an appeal with the Appellate Authority that has been created through the new legal arrangement.
There will also be a Fata Tribunal enjoying the status of a High Court, bestowed with the powers of revision of the decisions of the Appellate Authority. The Bill bars the arrest of women, children below the age of 16 and the persons above the age of 65 years. The new amendment forbids the take-over of the property of any person without adequate compensation as per the prevailing market price in accordance with the procedure laid down in the Land Acquisition Act 1894.
Similarly, a new section added to the FCR provides for adequate compensation to the defendants for implication in false criminal cases and compensatory costs in civil matters. In January 2011 the status of Kala Dhaka was also changed from provincially administered area to a settled area as a first step towards the integration of the tribal areas with the rest of the country.
As part of the reforms, a Bill called "Action in Aid of Civil Powers, 2011" for Fata and Pata has also been promulgated to provide legal cover to the orders of the Federal government authorising the army to take action against the terrorists in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Bill also makes it obligatory on the army to comply with principles of humanitarian law and maintain human rights standards while conducting such operations and to exercise necessary precaution before using force, failing which the personnel of the armed forces shall be liable to strict disciplinary and criminal penalties. The Bill also envisages a de-radicalisation programme of detainees while explicitly prohibiting torture.
That really gives a humane face to the government efforts to quell terrorism and keeps the door open for relapse into the normal life by the terrorists who decide to abandon terrorism. In the backdrop of some reports of violation of human rights by the personnel of the armed forces and an incessant propaganda by some international human rights organisations in this regard, the legislation is a very imaginative move that could strengthen our credentials as a civilised nation.
To improve the economic situation of the people and restoring peace to the tribal region, the government is already in the process of implementing 3-D policy (Dialogue, Development and Deterrence) that has demonstrated positive results. The army is engaged in extensive rehabilitation and reconstruction programme in the areas that have been cleared of the terrorists. In June 2011, the Army Chief announced the construction of Wana-Angoor Adda road. This 220 kilometres long road will connect the tribal areas with settled regions of the country, Afghanistan and Central Asia. A cadet college at Wana, a grid station and the provision of health facilities to the people of the area have also been envisioned.
The extension of the Fata Political Parties Order 2002 is also a significant step in granting political rights to the people of Fata and bringing them in the mainstream of national politics. The selling of their programmes in the tribal areas by the political parties will help in countering the pernicious one-sided campaign of the militants that seeks to reject the state, the constitution, democracy and our way of life.
To give historic perspective to the reform process in the tribal areas, perhaps, it would be pertinent to mention that it was actually started by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto when through the 1973 Constitution he extended the executive authority of the government to these areas and also gave the right of adult franchise to the tribal people in the 1977 general elections.
As prime minister, he focused on economic uplift and human resource development by constructing schools, colleges, hospitals, improving road networks, providing jobs and setting up industrial units in all the seven agencies of Fata. The mission was carried forward by Benazir Bhutto when she filed a petition in the Supreme Court for political reforms in Fata in 2004. In November 2004, the senate adopted PPP-sponsored resolution in this regard.
The issue also figured in the manifesto of the PPP during 2008 election. Soon after the formation of the government, a cabinet committee was set-up in April 2008 to initiate a process of consultations with all the stakeholders for reforming the system. The President also had interaction with the Fata tribesmen during January 2009 on the issue. The cabinet committee formulated its recommendation in the light of these deliberations, which were approved by the cabinet and also agreed to by the President in February 2009.
The most appreciable aspect of the introduction of these reforms is that it enjoys the support and backing of all the stakeholders, including the political parties. Perhaps, it merits mentioning that the PPP, notwithstanding the incessant propaganda and conspiracies against it by the rightists elements and the establishment to soil its credentials as a patriotic political entity, is the only party which can boast of having taken epoch-making decisions in regard to protecting human rights, facilitating self-rule and bestowing provincial autonomy on the federating units.
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto gave the country a unanimous constitution that guaranteed human rights. He introduced parliamentary democracy in AJK. The present government has given autonomy and self-rule to the people of Gilgit-Baltistan, granted autonomy to the provinces and now taken a very big leap towards ensuring constitutional and political rights to the people of Fata. These are irrefutable historic realities and for an anodyne observer, deserve unqualified accolades.