Showing FATA healing hand

EDITORIAL:frontier post
Whether there is a split in the ranks of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan over peace deal with the government or whether the militants sense in the state’s “give peace a chance” policy its weakness and thus an opportunity to regain what they had lost in the battlefield, may be debatable. But one thing is more than evident. A debilitating dent has been dealt to their awe and influence by the military operations in the tribal areas and they are feeling the pinch of it. And by corollary, the tribal people too in the cleared-off areas have overcome substantially the fear of the militant gun. And that makes for a precious opportunity for the state to consolidate the gains, insulate the tribal populace from militancy and choke off the possibility of the militants’ comeback. But the feat can be brought about only by showing a powerful humane face of the state to the populace. And that can come about if the state’s military power and civil power team up dynamically in a massive rehabilitation and reconstruction effort in the areas wrenched out of the militants’ grab to earn their residents’ goodwill and solidify their loyalty to the state. But that is where comes the snag. This team work is perceptibly not there. The political administration that should have been seen at its most active and in the forefront is more conspicuous for absence than presence from the scene. So much so, political agents mostly stay berthed outside their domains, to which they are as infrequent visitors as their tehsildars and other subordinate minions. Yet they are no contrite. The political administration contends it is inert because the military doesn’t allow it to operate. This could be an excuse for a cop-out. But if it is so, that must change. The task is far too colossal for the military to carry out all alone. In spite of all the precautions, a measure of human grief and woe in the military operations was just inevitable. And it did occur, and in no small measure. The local populations were displaced on a large-scale. Numerous homes, workplaces, businesses, irrigation systems and infrastructure were damaged. Even collateral damages occurred. And more concernedly, rightly or wrongly the tribal people feel they have been dealt a raw deal all along. Their displaced harbour the grouse they were not given the treatment meted out to the similarly displaced from other places like Swat. They whine of non-receipt of compensation or inadequate compensation for the property losses suffered in the operations. Even discontent with the process of rehabilitation is much in the air. Complaints also abound about the security people’s conduct and behaviour with the locals. Besides, they are facing enormous difficulties in meeting their basic needs like food, medicines and other provisions of daily use. And it would be just unwise to think collateral damages in the military operations have not grieved the distressed families. It has, definitely. Candidly, the aggrieved families are indeed as angry as the ones whose innocent kith and kin are killed or wounded in CIA’s drone attacks. There must be no illusion whatsoever in any quarters on this count.By every consideration, the tribal regions do need a big healing hand, as much to mitigate their woes as for cementing the national solidarity. For this, the political administration should be fielded energetically and robustly. The military may give it all the backup that it needs. But the onus of responsibility must fall squarely on its shoulders. It must be tasked to the job and held accountable for it. All political agents and their subordinate administrative echelons must be seated right inside their domains. A comprehensive plan for the cleared areas’ rehabilitation, reconstruction and development must be hammered out by FATA’s top civilian and military leaderships, and apportioned to political agents concerned for execution, with deadlines for completion of each project or scheme. Regular periodic meetings must be held by the two top leaderships to review the progress of the work critically.It must be understood a strong healing hand is essential not only to keep the residents of the cleared areas solidly on the state’s side but also to inspire those still living under the militants’ sway to turn against their tormenting gunmen. This is all the more important, given the ominous happening across our western border. Over there, national reconciliation has palpably given way for creating the islands of loyalists, a sure recipe for an eventual civil strife. To guard against this conflagration’s spillover to our territory, we must fortify our own flanks in every manner.