IT has now been more than five years since the Federally Administered Tribal Areas were merged into KP.

The reason the five-year mark is significant is because the government’s plans used to justify the merger, most notably, the August 2016 Report of the Committee on Fata Reforms, headed by Sartaj Aziz, recommended a five-year transition period. During this transition, a number of necessary “complementary objectives and prerequisites” were to be fulfilled before the merger could be truly achieved. To quote the aforementioned report, it was important to envision the “mainstreaming of Fata as a process and not an end in itself”.

The moral and ethical debate around having a committee with no member belonging to ex-Fata to deliberate over the future status of the people of that area or the legality around the committee’s proposal to merge Fata with KP notwithstanding, it is beyond the scope of this article to assess the arguments for and against the merger itself. At this point, it is important to look at what has actually transpired; therefore, I focus on the key commitments that were supposed to occur during this transition period.

As per the report itself, the highest priority (after the restoration of peace) was the rehabilitation of the tribal people. Up until recently, relative peace had been achieved in most of the merged areas. However, the rehabilitation process is a different story. For all practical purposes, large swaths of ex-Fata still remain displaced even though the target date for repatriation was set for the end of 2016.

A meagre Rs400,000 was set as the compensation amount for destroyed homes — inadequate for cleaning up the debris let alone undertaking any sort of reconstruction. The programme was discontinued in 2023 even though many are still waiting to receive compensation. The KP government estimates an additional Rs60 billion would be needed to complete the process.

Given the local population’s financial constraints and lack of government support, many tribes like the Mehsuds in Waziristan and Mamozai in Orakzai remain displaced. As for compensation for destroyed shops, promised in the report, except for a couple of towns in North Waziristan district, shops were excluded from the compensation programme. This led to many bazaars that were once commercial hubs and centres of livelihood still looking like desolate wastelands.

Perhaps the biggest impediment to the successful mainstreaming of ex-Fata and its development has been the lack of funding.

Perhaps the biggest impediment to the successful mainstreaming of ex-Fata and its development has been the lack of funding. In addition to the existing Rs21bn annual development programme pre-merger, ex-Fata was to receive a three per cent share in the NFC divisible pool. Contrary to what some might believe, this share was based on the population and area metrics of Fata, similar to the share being determined for the provinces. It was not an additional favour.

However, to date, this amount has not been given by the provinces or the federal government. This was supposed to be Fata’s ‘Marshall Plan’. Instead, the regions formerly comprising Fata, continue to be robbed of this fundamental right.

Among other things, there were also promises of doubling quota seats in universities and health institutions across the country and an additional 20,000 jobs in the police (Levies). In addition, the jurisdictional extension of the high court and Supreme Court, the introduction of the ‘Tribal Areas Riwaj Act’ based on the region’s customary law for civil and criminal cases, development of urban centres as engines of growth, GIS-based land settlement and the withdrawal of security forces from Fata in five years were all promised.

However, instead of the doubling of quota seats, attempts have been made by some other provinces to abolish even the existing quota seats for ex-Fata students. Notably, in 2021, the Punjab government’s attempt was only blocked after the intervention of the then Punjab governor Chaudhry Sarwar on the request of ex-Fata parliamentarians after months of rioting by students.

Meanwhile in KP, ex-Fata students are still barred from competing on open merit seats and the same low number of quota seats remains. In the local police, let alone fulfilling the promise of creating 20,000 new vacancies, many existing spots in ex-Fata, vacated by retired personnel, remain unfilled. The Tribal Areas Riwaj Act never saw the light of day, while land settlement and the development of urban centres remain abstract ideas at best. The recent worsening security situation in ex-Fata has meant that the footprint of the security forces is on the rise, and there is no indication of a withdrawal as envisaged by the committee.

What the merger has achieved though is reducing the representation of members from ex-Fata in the National Assembly from 12 to six and abolishing the eight Senate seats held by Fata residents. While KP’s administrative and judicial systems struggle to establish a set-up in ex-Fata, the old system has been dismantled, creating a vacuum that has further disrupted daily life for residents. On top of that, electricity meterisation is meticulously being pursued and various federal and provincial taxes are being extended.

While residents of ex-Fata are still yearning for the state to fulfil its promises, the real tragedy is that the committee’s recommendations were never given any legal backing, meaning that these promises will likely remain just words on the piece of paper they were written on.

Contrary to what the merger was supposed to achieve, it has only increased the ex-Fata population’s sense of abandonment, desperation and resentment towards the state. With the region once again on the brink of being overwhelmed by militancy, there is an urgent need for key stakeholders to come together to chalk out a new development pathway for the area. However, this time it is imperative that the people of ex-Fata are involved in this process in a decision-making capacity.

The writer is a development practitioner and a former parliamentarian.

X: @GhaziGJ

Published in Dawn, November 9th, 2024