The FATA Reforms Committee has proposed reforms for the junction of FATA with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The reforms include political, administrative, judicial and security reforms. The reforms also include the rehabilitation programme and the ponderous reconstruction that has to take place in that area.
Adviser to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz, will submit his report to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif after he returns from Britain later this month.
The committee includes the National Security Adviser, retired Lt Gen Nasser Janjua, Minister for Law and Justice Zahid Hamid and Minister for States and Frontier Regions and retired Lt Gen Abdul Qadir Baloch.
The members of the committee have visited all the tribal regions and held discussions with tribal elders, tribal representatives, and government officials to raise their views on reforms and the future status of FATA. The national security adviser provided adjuration from the General Headquarters.
FATA is the poorest region in Pakistan because of the high level of unemployment and poverty. The recommendation endeavors of setting up of a high-level special committee consisting of experts and officials under the KP governor to prepare before the end of 2016, a ten-year development plan for FATA.
The committee said that the major aim of the development plan would be to bring FATA at par with the rest of Pakistan on the basis of all major economic and social indicators.
It also said that 20 percent of the allocation under the development plan should be channeled through local bodies.
Further, it said, that the National Finance Commission should be asked to allocate 2pc (approximately Rs60 billion in 2016-17) of the divisible pool for the implementation of the 10-year plan.
It has proposed holding of party-based local bodies’ elections in FATA after the completion of rehabilitation phase and annunciation of the FATA Local Government Regulations within three months. This, it said, would restore trust between the state and the people of Fata, create a sense of ownership amongst them, extend the writ of the state and prepare the region for further political, legal, constitutional and administrative reforms.
The committee has proposed the renaming of the Frontier Crimes Regulation as FATA Regulation Act, 2016, omitting all sections relating to collective responsibility. The proposal also included the Jirga system for civil and criminal matters. The court would also appoint a council of elders to adjudicate matters in accordance with the ‘riwaj’.
The committee has called for a proper police function, with the introduction of police uniform and basic training and induction of additional 10,000 men. It has also proposed an introduction of proper land settlement property record in FATA on a priority basis for administration of civil laws and as a prerequisite for banking operation and investment.
In order to oversee the implementation of the reforms, the committee has proposed setting up of a reforms implementation committee comprising the KP governor, ministers of Safron, law and justice, the National Security Adviser, and a military representative with the prime minister holding a quarterly review.
