Fata merger with KP at long last

After more than 70 years of living under an oppressive colonial-era dispensation, the people of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) are to become part of the national mainstream, getting their due rights as equal citizens of the state. On Thursday, the National Assembly passed the 31st Constitutional Amendment Bill (also known as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas Reforms bill, 2018) for the merger of Fata with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The following day the Senate endorsed the proposed law with an overwhelming majority of 71 votes in favour. Only the JUI-F and PkMAP chose to keep swimming against the tide of popular sentiments. The former staged a walkout from the House and the latter cast its five votes against. The KP assembly too passed the measure incorporating Fata within Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). President of Pakistan has signed the amendment bill, merging Fata with KP.
Unfortunately, for far too long, vested interests thwarted any attempt at reform. Back in the 1970s, the PPP leader and prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto formed a committee with a view to mainstreaming Fata, albeit unsuccessfully. Later Benazir Bhutto had her party move the Supreme Court for the extension of the Political Parties Act to Fata. Yet the resistance to meaningful change persisted. The PML-N government waited for far too long - though this time for reasons of political expediency - to implement the recommendations of its own committee on Fata reforms that, among other measures, suggested merger. Notably, the committee had submitted its report to the government after exhaustive consultations with tribal maliks, elders, and representatives of various political parties, six frontier regions and civil society. Still, it would not act until its last few days in office fearing the annoyance of its two allies, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and PkMAP Chairman Mehmood Achakzai. They have consistently been opposing the merger, calling instead for referendum. Two parties against half a dozen others surely could not be a winning combination.