By Tariq Rizwan
Pakistan came into being in 1947, the only second country in the name of Islam after the state of Madina. It was strong desire of the founder of the nation to have a true democracy in the country and make Pakistan a welfare state. Almost 70 years have lapsed but we failed to improve our governance system. During our short history, we have experienced a very confused system of governance. Institutional vendetta is rampant prompted by the evils of personality and family based politics coupled by rampant corruption in almost all spheres of life. Indeed, Pakistan is considered one of the most resourceful countries in terms of geostrategic location, strong agriculture sector, cheap labor and the unexplored mineral reserves. Apart, Pakistan has a diverse society which has never been transformed into an opportunity rather remained a menace to our national security.
We have inherited a very diverse society from the scratch and some watchful enemies in the neighborhood. Our diversity has remained a soft target and our staunch enemy has never missed any opportunity. Occupation of major portion of Kashmir in the beginning and the separation of East Pakistan in 1971 are the cases in point. Our consecutive governments have miserably failed to cover up its fault lines and are being exploited till today by the regional and extra regional powers to their advantage. Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), Gilgit Baltistan, Balochistan, Sindh specially Karachi and southern parts of Punjab continued to be Pakistan’s problem areas under the watchful eyes of regional enemies.
During his recent speech on Independence Day 15 Aug, 2016, Indian Prime Minister Nerender Modi crossed all the limits and opened alleged gross violation of human rights in Balochistan, Gilgit - Baltistan and Azad Kashmir. It was part of India’s tit - for - tat policy to the growing indigenous resurgence in Occupied Kashmir in recent weeks where more than 80 innocent Kashmiris have been killed and hundreds other injured as a result of Indian Army’s use of force against the peaceful protestors. Pakistan foreign office spokesman has termed Modi’s speech as ‘crossing of a red line’.
FATA, the semi-autonomous tribal lands consist of seven Agencies "Bajaur, Mohmand, Khyber, Orakzai, Kurram, North and South Waziristan. There are also six smaller zones known as frontier regions in the transitional area between the tribal lands and the KPK to the east. The harsh, mountainous terrain of tribal belt runs along the Afghanistan border, drawn during colonial times by British diplomat Sir Henry Mortimer Durand as a means to divide and weaken the eleven major Pashtun tribes and turn Afghanistan into a buffer zone between the British and Russian empires. ‘Durand Line’ was signed between Sir Durand and Amir Abdurehman of Afghanistan in 1893. To the south of the tribal lands lies the large province of Balochistan.
Tribal people joined Pakistan rather than India in 1947. The narrow strip ‘FATA’ is being ruled through a centuries old black law called ‘Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR)' made by the Britishers. This brutal law like collective responsibility was introduced by the Colonial Empire to punish the tribals for their disobedience and armed resistance. These tribals were later on instrumental in liberating the Azad Kashmir from the Indian clutches. They fought bravely against the Indian occupational troops. Instead of rewarding them, Pakistan has not brought any change in FCR except the introduction of adult franchise and extension of political act through ordinances by former PPP Presidents Farooq Ahmed Khan Laghari and Asif Ali Zardari respectively. People of FATA are deprived of basic rights including political, social, economical, educational, legal etc. Even the elected representatives have no say in the parliamentary and administrative affairs of their areas via a vis the Political Agents. The later are considered as uncrowned kings due to their absolute powers in FCR.
There is no writ of government in the area. FATA remains like an open field. History shows that incursion of Mughals, Soviets, Taliban militants etc took place at ease and remains a source of trouble till today. It is an open secret that most of the terrorism in the country comes from FATA due to lack of government writ. Though Pakistan Army has improved the road infrastructure to a greater extent, yet the ongoing cosmetic measures are not the ultimate solution. Tribal populace is stuck up between the devil and deep sea. They are the sufferers by end of the day due to military operation, US drone strikes and militant activities. Their culture, traditions, economy and housing infrastructure specially in operational areas has been destroyed completely. due to flight of capital due to insecurity of life and property. Being hub of militant activities, hundreds of thousands of innocent tribal people have lost their lives and displaced in the ongoing war on terror.
Despite FATA Reforms Committee report, Pakistan has yet to extend law of the land to FATA and bring it into the mainstream. It does not augur well for the multi billion dollars CPEC. However, inclusion of FATA reforms in National Action Plan (NAP) is an encouraging step to change its administrative status, introduce political activities and bring socio economic development in the area.
Balochistan too remained backward due to such criminal negligence on the part of the state. Masses are deprived of basic rights. Though the law of the land prevails yet due to the meager resources provided by the state, the province remains extremely backward. Being a huge landscape, Balochistan is laden with plenty of mineral resources but remained unexplored either due to state neglect or due to security reasons coupled by the corrupt and exploitative attitude of local Nawabs, Sardars and those who were on the helm of affairs. Unprofessional handling of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti added fuel to the fire. As a result, the locals became a soft target to be exploited by the enemies for their vested interests. The self exiled rebel Baloch leaders including Khan of Kalat, Hairbyar Marri and Brahmdagh Bugti continued to be exploited by the foreign powers specially the Jewish lobby and RAW-NDS nexus at their convenience to achieve their agenda of destabilizing Pakistan. The recent suicide attack in Quetta and interview of Brahmdagh, thanking Prime Minister Modi for showing sympathies for Baloch are evident in this regard. The enemy is using mercenaries to undermine CPEC.
Situation in Gilgit - Baltistan and Karachi is also fragile. The area remained backward and lacks development in the field of infrastructure, health, education, industrialization etc. Apart from the security measures taken for CPEC, government has to transfer more funds to these areas to bring it at par with Punjab, change the political status of FATA without wasting any more time and take the political parties on board. Pakistan is going to lose a golden opportunity as China has huge potentials in terms of finances, technology, human expertise and ready to provide all these. Indeed, Pakistan has to take bold steps and convince China of its sincerity in developing the shortest Western CPEC route. Otherwise all will be in vain and our coming generations will curse us as usual.
The writer is a freelance journalist based in Islamabad
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