Elections in Ex-FATA should be expedited

Last week, the National Assembly passed the 26th Constitutional Amendment Bill and formalized an increase in the number of seats in the National Assembly and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly for erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata). Prime Minister Imran Khan had thanked all political parties that voted for the amendment bill and said: “I am very happy that the entire House has supported this constitutional amendment. This bill will give the people of the erstwhile tribal areas the pride that they are important to us and their voice will always be heard in Pakistan. I urge all provinces to give three per cent from their NFC share for the development of the erstwhile Fata areas.” Through an amendment, the time set for the elections was extended from one to one-and-a-half years, because the increasing number of seats would require delimitation of constituencies.
However, Election Commission of Pakistan should expedite the process of delimitation of constituencies to hold elections within six months, as the people of the area are keen to see elections at an early date. In fact, Imran Khan and military leadership have all along been persuading the previous government to mainstream FATA without losing any time, as detractors of Pakistan would use the deprivation of the people to disturb peace which had been achieved with tremendous sacrifices. Last year, after passage of the FATA-KP merger bill, political parties had started reaching the voters, circulated their manifestos and created political awareness among the residents. If the merger had taken place earlier, it would not have been possible for extremists’ outfits to aid or abet foreign militants. Anyhow, development in FATA should be undertaken on war footing to improve the lives of the people.
The US had promised rather taken the responsibility to set up industrial units in FATA and earthquake-hit areas of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa as part of Reconstruction Opportunity Zones. But, the project was abandoned by the US, as after withdrawal of US and NATO forces from Afghanistan it lost interest in the project. Anyhow the government should focus on the development so that enemies of Pakistan would not be able to use grievances of the people. Army has been sincerely making efforts to uplift the life of masses in Pashtun Tribal belt, and the people are the witness that Pakistan Army contributed a great deal towards nation-building both in kinetic and non-kinetic realms. We have been reminding the government through these columns that temporary displaced persons should be rehabilitated in an honorable manner, and if tribal area was not developed, the people would remain unemployed and deprived.
On Saturday, COAS Qamar Javed Bajwa visited North Waziristan, and was given briefing on temporarily displaced persons. The government should give top priority to their rehabilitation and development of the tribal districts, as the people have suffered due to lack of development of the region during British Raj as well as because of the neglect by the various governments after inception of Pakistan. To add to their woes, they remained hostage to the terrorists and religious fanatics for over 14 years. The efforts of armed forces to liberate them from the terrorists resulted in one of the biggest internal displacement in the history of Pakistan, which had socio-politico-economic and security implications for the people of the area. Any negligence at this stage would not only generate despondency among the tribal people but would also provide opportunity to the militants and enemies of Pakistan to use people’s grievances to advance their agenda.