PESHAWAR – After a series of discussions on reforms in Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) during the last six months, the major political parties have agreed on a single-point agenda to ask President Asif Ali Zardari to extend Political Order 2002 to the tribal region through a notification.
According to reliable sources, the parties have unanimously agreed on the one-point which needs a simple notification from the presidency. “The president should keep his promise that he made during his address to the nation on August 14, 2009, and issue a presidential order to implement the decision. The political parties should be allowed to start their activities in the tribal areas,” a source, requesting anonymity, said.
The parties are going to strongly recommend to the president to use his constitutional powers and notify political activities in FATA, giving political rights to the tribal people. The political parties are arguing that the security situation can improve once the political activities are allowed in the restive tribal belt where currently no system is in place. The old Malik system has almost collapsed and now there is no control of the tribal elders over FATA. The tribal people believe the military is in command of operations in the areas where there is militancy, but political dialogue is a long-term solution.
Efforts are under way to take Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Barrister Masood Kausar into confidence on the issue. Senior PML-N leader and former senator, Anwar Kamal Marwat, who is representing his party in the dialogue on FATA reforms under National Democratic Institute, told Pakistan Today in an interview that they had extensively discussed the need for extending Political Order 2002 to FATA to contain the militancy. “Now we should own the poor tribesmen as our people and political activities will help them raise their concerns at the national level,” he asserted.
Senator Zahid Khan from ANP, Farhatullah Babar from Pakistan People’s Party, and Senator Anwar Kamal from PML-N represented their respective parties in the dialogue. JUI-F, JI, PkMAP, MQM, National Party (Hayee group), PML-Q and civil society were also represented in the parleys. “The president who is reluctant to issue the notification can take a decision once the political leadership of the 10 parties forwards him the recommendations. But we will exert pressure on the government to take the decision,” Anwar Kamal said.
