Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said on Monday that the return of the internally displaced persons of tribal areas to their homes was critical for the development and mainstreaming of FATA and deplored the government’s neglect of this issue as a crime against the people of tribal areas.
“It is scandalous that the internally displaced persons (IDPs) are still rotting in camps despite tall claims that more than 90 per cent of the tribal areas have been cleared of militants and extremists,” the PPP chairman said during a meeting with the office bearers and workers of PPP FATA chapters at the Zarari House.
PPP spokesperson Senator Farhatullah Babar quoted the PPP chairman as saying that the Party’s provincial and central chapters, the parliamentarians and senior leadership must expose the government’s apathy towards the plight of the tribal people and force it to resettle and rehabilitate them.
The meeting was also attended by former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, PPP FATA Coordinator Akhunzada Chatan, PPP Vice President Senator Sherry Rehman, some former federal and provincial ministers and political secretary Jamil Soomro among others.
Babar said that Monday was the fourth day of ‘meet the workers’ meetings of the PPP chairman in Islamabad.
The PPP chairman called for mainstreaming FATA by giving its fundamental rights and local self governments in the tribal agencies.
Bilawal also deplored that the government had done nothing for reforms in the tribal areas even though mainstreaming FATA was also a central plank of the National action Plan (NAP).
Bilawal said that former president Asif Ali Zardari had also addressed a letter to the prime minister recently on this subject but the letter had not even been acknowledged by the prime minister. He called upon the party MPs to pursue the issue of FATA reforms in the national parliament.
He said that according to the constitution the tribal areas are part of Pakistan. However, its people had been denied basic rights as guaranteed to the people of other parts of the country as the superior courts had no jurisdiction in the tribal areas.
He said that this anomaly had been taken note of by the courts and the provincial assembly had also passed a unanimous resolution urging the federal government to extend the jurisdiction of the superior courts to the tribal areas. He asked the government to immediately adopt a private member’s bill already passed by the senate committee.
We must give strategic importance to the people and empower them instead of simply stating that the tribal lands are strategic in nature. Talking of only the land and not of the people reflects a colonial mindset, he said.
Empowerment is linked to sense of justice and sense of participation of the people in their own affairs, he said.
Bilawal Bhutto said that a governing structure that is not based on the will of the people cannot resist the militants. Had there been people’s participation in FATA’s affairs, the area would not have been taken over by others so easily.
He said that political reforms and empowering people in tribal areas would strengthen and not weaken national security as is often contended by a section of the powerful establishment.
Bilawal also called for devising a mechanism for holding elections for local self governments in each agency in the tribal areas. The mechanism should be based on adult franchise, transparency, and duly empowered local government bodies, he said.
“There should be local governments in FATA so that people participate in and manage their own issues. It is a measure of double standards that while we demand local governments throughout the country we are not prepared to hold local polls in the tribal areas,” he said.
He also called for separating judicial functions and authorities from the executive authorities and functions in the tribal areas and said that the local agency governments should have a say in the formation of tribal jirgas as an alternate dispute resolution mechanism.
Ya Sheikh – apni dekh. Children are dying in Thar – a PPP domain, and he is worried about FATA. He also was for all out support for AJK government which the PML calls 'usurpers'. He also is going to US to see his 'ailing' dad – suffering from a heart disease – says the fake Doctor Rehman Malik.
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