PESHAWAR: Fata Political Alliance, a body comprising representatives of all political parties of the Federally Administered Tribal Area, has rejected certain recommendations of the Fata Reforms Commission (FRC), saying these will not bring any change in the lives of tribal people.

Speaking at a joint press conference at Peshawar Press Club on Saturday, the political leaders said that the commission’s proposals were in violation of the basic human rights and they would not accept it at any cost.

Briefing newsmen on behalf of the alliance, former MNA and Jamaat-i-Islami Fata chief Sahibzada Haroonur Rasheed rejected the proposed draft report prepared by FRC. He said the report was contradictory to the basic human rights and Constitution.

“The Fata Reforms Commission was constituted by KP Governor Sardar Mahtab Ahmad Khan to submit its detailed draft report for mainstreaming and bringing reforms in the tribal region, but it failed to come up to the expectations of the people of tribal regions,” he said.

He said that the present draft of the reforms did not reflect wishes of the tribal people. “Though the commission has not yet made its report public, we have got a copy of the document,” he said.

“According to the commission report, councils will be set up on the basis of each tribal agency and the political agent will be chairman of the agency council for two years (interim period), while the vice-chairman will be elected by the council itself,” he said while referring to the draft.

Similarly, he also objected to the recommendation that KP governor would be head of the Fata council and all the elected vice-chairmen of different tribal agencies and Frontier Regions (FRs) would be its members.

Say reform body suggests giving all powers to political agents, governor

He said that the political leaders wanted to get rid of FCR and draconian political administration, but in the commission’s recommendation the entire powers were given to the political agents and governor.

“The commission has not mentioned delimitations for the agency council members,” he said.

The former MNA said that the governor was a political figure and the political parties expected that he would do justice with the people of tribal regions. He said that the FRC draft report was joke with more than eight million tribal people and it would not acceptable to them.

Tribal leaders of Fata Political Alliance from various tribal agencies, including ANP president Attaullah Khan, PPP president Aurangzeb Khan, Rahat Yousaf of PML-N, Gul Dad Khan of PTI and Abdul Majeed of Bajaur Agency JI, were also present at the press conference.

Mr Rashid said that tribesmen had been kept deprived of all basic human and constitutional rights due to the imposition of draconian Frontier Crime Regulation and Action in Aid of Civil Power Regulation in Fata. 

He said that Fata was also part of this country and the tribesmen deserved to be given the same rights.

Appreciating some of the efforts made by the previous government of Pakistan Peoples Party, the head of the political alliance said that PPP in consultation with the political parties in and outside the parliament had prepared a long-term strategy for mainstreaming and reforming Fata.

He said the Political Parties’ Ordinance was extended to Fata under the reforms agenda of the previous government. He, however, stressed the need for implementation of the reform agenda in its true spirit to mainstream Fata.

He said that members of Fata Political Alliance would hold meetings with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and President Mamnoon Hussain besides the central leaders of various political parties to express their reservations about the proposed draft report of FRC.

The alliance demanded of the government and KP governor to review the proposed draft report of the commission before its execution, and warned that if it was implemented in its present form then all political parties in Fata would launch a protest movement against it. 

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2015

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