After 10 months of foot-dragging on FATA Reforms, the PML-N has acted on only one proposal out of a total 24 approved by the federal cabinet on March 2, 2016 due to the political isolation of PML-N after the tragic rape and murder of Zainab in Kasur. PML-N today is left with Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman and Mahmood Khan Achakzai as allies in the centre who have expressed their vehement opposition to FATA reforms.
The National Assembly on Friday approved a bill with a majority to extend jurisdiction of Supreme Court and Peshawar High Court to the tribal areas, with no word on the remaining 23-points of the promised reforms leading analysts to conclude that the opposition from Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman and Mahmood Khan Achakzai has won the day, again.
Jamat-e-Islami chief Senator Siraj-ul-Haq said the government has failed to come up to expectations of the tribal people on the reforms agenda which had committed to allow the tribals to elect their representatives to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa PA in 2018 general elections.
"This shows the government is not serious in implementing the reforms in letter and spirit or it is being blackmailed by its allies in the centre," he said, adding that all political parties except for the two allies of the government have been supporting the reforms and the immediate merger of FATA with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The Senator said that his party would stand by the people of FATA and would continue its struggle for the reforms in the area. "We must implement reforms and give the tribals their due rights as promised by the Constitution to the rest of the country," he added.
Reforms approved by the federal cabinet committed allocation of 3 percent of the gross federal divisible pool on an annual basis for the implementation of FATA Development Plan and this was to be in addition to the existing annual PSDP allocation of Rs 21 billion. Official sources told Business Recorder that the National Implementation Committee on FATA Reforms took up the three percent share for FATA from the divisible pool with the provinces, but so far no progress has been made on this.
"Deliberations on the allocation of funds for FATA from federal divisible pool are still under way and hopefully something concrete will come up in the next couple of weeks," said an official privy to the deliberations. Minister for States and Frontier Regions General Abdul Qadir Baloch (Retd) said the government is committed to acting on the remaining points of the FATA reforms and would soon give good news to the nation.
"The PML-N government deserves credit for FATA reforms and the first step has been taken with the extension of the jurisdiction of Supreme Court and Peshawar High Court to the area," he said. About Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) and Rewaj Regulations, the minister said the government would submit a summary to the President for approval under Article 247 of the constitution.
"Provisions relating to collective responsibility for a crime will be omitted, thereby making an individual responsible for his own acts," he said. Senator Sajjad Hussain Turi from FATA, Kurram Agency told Business Recorder that extension of the jurisdiction of Supreme Court and Peshawar High Court to FATA is a step towards abolition of the FCR and this is a welcome development.
On the three percent NFC share for tribal areas, he said that if the provinces do not agree to the original proposal of three percent share for FATA, the federal government should allocate funds to the area on the basis of the population as per formula of the NFC Award. "All political parties should shun politics on FATA reforms and work sincerely to accomplish the agenda of bringing tribal areas into the mainstream," he said, "so that the sense of deprivation and alienation in the tribesmen could be addressed."
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