For I have promises to keep…
After a lot of procrastination and wavering and shifting of positions the federal government has finally taken a position on the future of FATA. Putting aside the reservations of two of its allies, it has agreed to merge FATA into KP as originally proposed by the FATA Reforms Committee and demanded by major opposition parties.
The opposition to merger came from two quarters. The otherwise diametrically opposed Mahmood Khan Achakzai, a secular Pasuhtun nationalist, and Fazl-ur-Rehman who heads a religio-political party. Despite their deep ideological divide, both found the opposition to a merger beneficial for short term gains. Achakzai thought that getting a second Pushtun province, separately represented in the Senate, would add to his stature among the Pushtun community, ending the old rival ANP’s domination on Pushtun nationalist politics. Fazl-ur-Rehman, who had been isolated in KP and Balochistan, believed that he would be able to capture FATA through religious slogans which are less popular in KP. Both hoped that they would be able to pressurise Nawaz Sharif at a time when he badly needs their support on account of the Panama Papers.
As a separate province, FATA would have been a fief of the tribal elders and primitive clerics. As part of KP, which is socially and economically more advanced, there is a greater possibility of the region bidding farewell to primitive thinking and supremacy of the outdated elite. Mainstreaming of FATA would be easier and faster as a part of KP than as a separate province.
A number of issues still need to be ironed out. FATA’s mainstreaming will require huge development funds for the region. Unless ironclad constitutional guarantees are in place to make the federation provide these, the tribal region would become an economic liability for KP. It is good that the FCR is going to be replaced. What is being suggested as an alternative however needs to be further debated. The proposed Riwaj Act is liable to be branded as no more than a milder form of the FCR.