Threats mar ANP, PPPP electioneering in FATA

Daily Times

Some of the political parties, like the Awami National Party (ANP) and Pakistan People Party-Parliamentarians (PPP-P), are finding it hard to hold big gatherings for electioneering in FATA due to serious threats. These parties are even unable to held corner meetings due to strong hold of non-state actors in FATA. Experts on FATA expressed these views while launching Democracy Reporting International’s (DRI) report on election in FATA. The speakers at the event were of the view that after extending Political Parties Order to FATA with some amendments, the local people are eager to take part in the upcoming general election. Due to militancy and poor law and order situation, the political parties are confronting some challenges in FATA. However, religious parties have more sympathies as compared to other parties. The DRI report calls for additional security for voters, candidates and polling staff and special measures for women voters to ensure credible, participatory elections in FATA. The report Electoral Conditions in FATA, which was launched on Tuesday at a conference on FATA elections, also makes longer-term recommendations to integrate the region into the country’s mainstream, including through reserved parliamentary seats for women and measures to increase the registration of women voters. The report reveals continuing failure to bring FATA’s electoral conditions in line with constitutional and international commitments and details the many challenges in the region in holding genuine elections. It was noted that barriers to voter registration present significant problems for women, who represent just over a third of FATA’s 1.7 million registered voters, and for people living in tribal areas, who face additional verification requirements to obtain the CNICs. In addition to increased security measures for women voters, other immediate improvements called for in the report include voter education by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), more state radio stations, and need for civil society to emphasise voters’ rights and choices; a clear permission system for election observations and accreditation, with full support to observation activities; and special polling arrangements by the ECP for internally displaced persons (IDPs). For the long-term, the report recommends amending the constitution and the country’s legal framework to bring FATA into the national mainstream and extend the jurisdiction of superior courts to tribal areas to protect basic human rights denied under the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR), including freedom of assembly, association and expression. The report calls for same election laws in FATA as the rest of country and amendment in Delimitation of the Constituencies Act 1974 to ensure that constituencies in FATA are more equally divided. The DRI report welcomes the recent progress towards the political mainstreaming of FATA, including amendments to the FCR and the extension of the PPO allowing political parties to field candidates. DRI Pakistan Country Director Vladimir Pran says, “Political parties are free to act as agents of change for the first time in FATA, but we’re still faced with a situation where political agents simultaneously act as executive head, session judge, district returning officer and revenue magistrate. Such conflicts of interest must be addressed alongside other barriers to ensure fair and full participation.” The report also describes restrictions and obstacles faced by journalists and civil society organisations in FATA and recommends that an enabling environment be created for journalists and civil society observers covering elections in FATA. ANP candidate Naheed Rehman from Khyber Agency has demanded mobile polling team for FATA and appointment of judicial staff as returning officials instead of political agents. Iqbal Khattak, a journalist, informed the participants that media persons were confronting many hardships while entering tribal areas.