#Pakistan - Mainstreaming #FATA and the #PPP’s role

By Shahzad Tahir

History bears testimony to the extensive bloodshed, unimpeded anarchy, atrocities and rampant human-rights violations of the WWII that bolstered the conscience of the world. Consequently, this led to the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in December 1948 in Paris at the UN General Assembly. The declaration entitled every human being to a set of 30 basic human rights. If the aforesaid premise was to be reflected in a nutshell, it wouldn’t be imprecise to assert that it took the ‘world’ a ‘world war’ to devise and agree on a basic set of human rights.

Until March 24th 2018, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas in Pakistan inhabited by 15 million Pakhtuns continued to be a subject of human-rights violations due to its governance framework, the Frontier Crimes Regulations. A relic of the British colonial rule, the FCR denied basic human rights to Fata. Notably under the notion of collective responsibility, an entire tribe would share the penalty for a crime committed by a single tribesman. The FCR also denied right to justice due to a bar from approaching a court of law. In addition, another relic of the British colonial regime, Article 247 of the Constitution of Pakistan provided for vesting the executive and legislative authority of Fata with the president, similar to the British viceroy. Glad that now its history.

Arguably, it took the incumbent government a lot of resentment to agree to the mainstreaming of Fata by merging it with the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province via the 31st Amendment, it is a moment of pride and triumph for democracy and human rights in Pakistan. The story of Fata’s mainstreaming is neither of a day, nor a month, year or a decade but of decades in which generations of the Pakistan Peoples Party have remained resilient advocates of the rights of the people of Fata; a story the world needs to know.

Being the architect of 1973 Constitution of Pakistan, PPP’s founder, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, inserted Article 247-6 in the Constitution which envisaged merger of Fata with Pakistan’s mainstream in consultation with the tribal jirga. In this regard, the first serious attempt in Pakistan’s history to mainstream Fata was made by then prime minister ZA Bhutto. Bhutto constituted a ministerial committee comprising senior members of the PPP to devise a framework for the merger of Fata with North West Frontier Province (now K-P) enabling political and economic reforms, chiefly giving the adult franchise right to vote, which they previously didn’t have.

Fearing imbalance in the tribal region on the other side of the Durand Line, the merger was hesitantly delayed for a while at international request and was decided to be taken up after the 1977 elections with a fresh mandate. However, before Bhutto’s envisioned effort could be resumed, democracy was toppled over by General Ziaul Haq’s coup d’état on July 5th 1977. The government’s report titled ‘Report of the Committee on Fata Reforms 2016’ which led to the merger of Fata with K-P reiterates this fact stating “This initiative [of ZA Bhutto’s government] would have succeeded had the 1977 military coup not occurred.”

Fata’s cause made slight progress when Benazir Bhutto’s government extended the Adult Franchise Act of 1996 to the region granting every adult the right to vote for their representatives previously whereas the tribal chieftains or Maliks only were eligible to vote. But unfortunately democracy was paralysed again when Benazir Bhutto’s second elected government was ousted.

Battling forces that conspired against the will of the people, democratic forces in the country continued the struggle towards Fata’s mainstreaming that ZA Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto had envisioned. In March 2004, Benazir Bhutto constituted the Fata Reforms Committee of the PPP; the first dedicated segment of a political party tasked with Fata reforms.

In the same year, Benazir Bhutto invoked her party’s representation in parliament to solicit parliamentary channels for Fata reforms. Eventually in 2004, a PPP presented resolution was unanimously passed in the Senate seeking reforms in Fata followed by the Senate’s adoption of a PPP-led Human Rights Committee’s report seeking changes in Senate.

Fata’s unabridged mainstreaming remained Benazir Bhutto’s key agendas. Her next target was filling the political vacuum in Fata. A constitutional petition in the Supreme Court was filed by Benazir in 2006 demanding extension of the Political Parties Act of 1962 to Fata. “Fata is a unit of the federation, but it has been handed over to religious parties operating from mosques and madrassas,” the petition stated.

Benazir used all available channels to secure basic rights for the people of Fata. The Shaheed Bhutto Foundation under patronage of Benazir carried out studies on Fata, extensively engaged stakeholders and rigorously campaigned to seek a political way forward for mainstreaming Fata. The government’s Fata reforms report has endorsed the foundation’s efforts.

In 2007, Fata’s cause suffered a huge blowback with the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. PPP once again came into power in 2008 and then prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani in his first address to parliament committed to change the FCR.

In April 2008, a committee of the cabinet was constituted to propose FCR reforms. Respecting the traditions of the land, the government consulted a jirga of tribal elders to restore peace and eventually consensus was developed with stakeholders on reforms. The jirga was invited by president Asif Zardari and a political, judicial and administrative reforms package was announced on Independence Day eventually however, it had to face delays due to opposition under various pretexts.

Two years later, having developed some consensus and disregarding some opposition, president Zardari gave assent to ‘Amendments in FCR 2011’ and extension of ‘Political Parties Order 2002’ to tribal areas. Meanwhile a PPP bill seeking amendments to Article 247 was also adopted by the Senate. Recently, a Fata Youth Jirga emerged as a powerful forum demanding the mainstreaming of Fata which was fully endorsed by a third generation of PPP’s leadership, Bilawal.

It might have taken the government a lot of resistance in the form of political powers in parliament, the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement and forums like the Fata Youth Jirga to eventually give rights to Fata, similarly as the world realised to agree on the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights after WWII, but it is a victory for the people of Pakistan, democracy, political stability of the country and the region and the PPP’s role must not be forgotten during this voyage.