Chairman Senate Raza Rabbani on Tuesday categorically said that no reforms for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) could be successful unless the linkage among black money, FATA secretariat and the Ministry for States and Frontier Regions (Safron) is broken.
"We must keep one aspect [regarding FATA] in mind that FATA Secretariat and Ministry of State and Frontier Regions (Safron) have vested interest in current FATA system and black economy worth billion of rupees is involved in this," he observed while chairing a meeting of Senate Committee for the Whole on FATA Reforms.
Advisor to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said that the government is making all-out efforts so that people of FATA should be given their right as demanded by the lawmakers belonging to tribal areas. He said that the local bodies' election, reconstruction and capacity building in the FATA are the immediate requirements. However, he said many measures are required on constitutional and legal front. He highlighted the salient features of the Committee on FATA Reforms.
Federal Minister for Law and Justice Zahid Hamid informed the meeting that five basic reforms are urgently required in the FATA including extending the jurisdiction of Supreme Court and High Court, abolition of FCR and introduction of the Riwaj Act. Rabbani said that the Committee of the Whole of Senate will compile its recommendations which would be subsequently approved by the Senate. He said that input by parliamentarians and other stakeholders would be given due consideration while finalising the recommendations.
The committee thoroughly discussed the Report of the Committee on FATA Reforms, 2016 that was laid before the Senate on September 27, 2016, which the house had then referred to Senate Committee of the Whole for further deliberation. Senator Hidayatullah said that FATA is seen as a threat to the whole world, which has become a matter of grave concern for its people, as they are peace-loving people, adding their contribution in war against terrorism is a testimony of their commitment to peace.
He said that the political agents have been misusing the jirga system which complicated the issues, adding land settlement system in FATA is quite effective and the proposal of the committee to change this will further create problems for the people. He said that people of FATA have only been kept on hollow promises by successive governments as no government judiciously spent the funds received in the name of FATA.
"Even the funds received under the Kerry-Lugar Bill were not spent sincerely in this area. And the job quota for people of FATA is also another joke," he lamented. Senator Aurangzeb said that they are not against the FATA reforms but there should be a fresh census, adding people of FATA have been kept in dark since creation of Pakistan, and still they have no hope that they will get justice ever.
"Our children have been deprived of education and people have been made homeless. FATA reforms are the future of the people of the area and we all want that they should be transparent," he added. Senator Taj Muhammad Afridi said that the reforms proposed by the FATA Reforms Committee would further complicate the issue for tribal people who are disappointed on this report.
He said that terrorism, extremism and lawlessness have handicapped the whole system as the powers have been grabbed from the people by bureaucracy which has adversely affected tribal people. He demanded a proper mechanism for disbursement of the funds to be given under the National Finance Commission, adding FATA has been deprived of its genuine rights since long and there is a need to focus on development in the area.
Senator Saleh Shah asked for review of the report and said that there are many contradictions in the FATA Reform Committee Report, adding majority is against the merger of FATA into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Senator Nauman Wazir said that the reform process is very slow and the rights of the people of the FATA have not been properly projected. Senator Ilyas Bilour said that the local culture and traditions of the FATA should be kept in mind for reforms process and proposed the merger of FATA into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Senator Usman Khan Kakar said that FATA reforms is a good initiative, adding the need of the hour is that temporarily displaced persons (TDPs) should be sent back to their homes as they are suffering for the government's wrong policies. Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed said that FATA people have sacrificed a lot and the area must be connected with the CPEC project.
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