A two-day seminar on the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) of Pakistan will begin tomorrow (December 7) at the auditorium of the Area Study Centre for Central Asia, Russia and China, University of Peshawar. The ASC is holding seminar on this important topic in collaboration with the Islamabad-based Germany's Hanns Seidel Foundation. The first day proceedings will be held in three sessions.
The inaugural session will start off with a welcome address by Dr Azmat Hayat Khan, Director, ASC, Peshawar University, to be followed by another welcome address by Dr Andreas Rieck, Representative of Hanns Seidel Foundation in Islamabad and a keynote address by Lieutenant General Mumtaz Gul (Retd), vice-chancellor, University of Peshawar.
Brigadier A.R. Siddiqui (Retd), an eminent military writer and former ISPR officer, will chair the first session of the seminar's first day proceedings. Former NWFP governor and ex-federal interior minister Major General Naseerullah Khan Babar (Retd) will speak on the tribal policy of Z.A. Bhutto. Sahibzada Saeed, secretary Fata, will give a talk about challenges and development in Fata and Arbab Arif, Political Agent, Khyber Agency will debate the effectiveness of the Frontier Crimes Regulations.
The second session of the first day proceedings to be chaired by former vice chancellor and ex-director of ASC, Peshawar University, Professor Dr Mohammad Anwar Khan, will have three more speakers. Former Frontier's chief secretary Khalid Aziz will present his views on the impact of Afghanistan's presidential election on Pakistan tribal belt. Director of Institute of Management Sciences (IMS) Hayatabad, Peshawar, Dr Nasser Ali Khan will express views on the economic impact of tribal areas. Dr Minhajul Hassan from History Department will read a paper on Afghans' impact on tribal area.
The second day (Wednesday, December 8) proceedings will go in three sessions with six out of eight scholars discussing the most-talked-about North and South Waziristan Tribal Agencies where security forces have been carrying out operation these days. A known researcher and writer on military affairs Colonel Mohammad Yahya Effendi (Retd), a former member of the National Assembly from Khyber Agency, Abdul Latif Afridi and Lieutenant General Asad Durrani (Retd) will respectively chair the three sessions.
Major General Shaukat Sultan, Director-General, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), will present an appraisal of the situation in Waziristan. Brigadier A.R. Siddiqui will talk about politico-military appraisal of Fata and Abdul Latif Afridi will read his paper on the impact of the FCR. During the last session, three known figures from North and South Waziristan - Malik Qadir Khan, Malik Gulabat Khan and Maulana Noor Mohammad - will talk about their respective tribal agencies. Inayatullah Mahsud and Masud-ur-Rehman will exclusively discuss South Waziristan Agency.