ISLAMABAD: Senate Committee on States and Frontier Regions took a strong exception to directions recently given to political agents guiding them to decline contracts to civilian contractors, in the name of criminal and anti-state activities, without recourse to legal procedures.
The issue came up in the meeting of the committee when special invitee Senator Farhatullah Babar pointed to August 2016 letter of 45 Army’s Engineers Division based in Peshawar conveying the instructions.
Criticising the move, the senator said that the arbitrary instructions had opened new avenues of corruption by denying participation in development projects on the pretext of national security, arbitrarily, and without due process of law. “It is cruel and unjust to deny contracts to civilians without a specific charge and without trial in a court of law to prove anti-state allegations, and without the right of appeal for the accused,” he added.
He said that this will further increase resentment and sense of deprivation among the tribesmen who were already marginalised and deprived.
The senator also criticised the existing system of collection of taxes, cess, levies and ‘rahdari’ by the political agents terming it ‘arbitrary, illegal and a tool for corruption’ which involved everyone along the ladder.
“The poor people of FATA are required to pay illegal tax on transportation of every item of daily use including wheat, animals, cement, and merchandise,” he said adding that it had become a lucrative business for some and the people now openly complained that the check-posts were being auctioned as money minting machines.
He further stated that the political agents should be provided with a specific amount in the budget, bringing an end to the illegal practice of fund collection from poor residents. He added that even the Governor had no powers to allow political agents to raise finances through such illegal practices.
The senator also said that FATA Reforms Committee had also recognised the permit and the rahdari system as a source of corruption, and recommended its abolition.
The Senate committee then directed that a work plan should be prepared to implement, within three months, the recommendations of FATA reforms committee to abolish the corrupt system, and instead, the budgetary allocations to political agents for meeting operational expenses should also be audited.
The meeting was also attended by Senator Ahmad Hassan, Senator Aurangzeb and MNA Qaisar Jamal.
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