THE much-needed, much-delayed Fata reforms process appears to be finally moving ahead. It appears that the renewed national focus on the National Action Plan, of which Fata reforms are a part, and the imminent return of Fata IDPs, following the conclusion of major military operations in the region, have acted to spur the state into action. While the reforms process has been unacceptably slow, the political government has at least done a commendable job of consulting, and intending to consult, a wide spectrum of stakeholders. By the time the Fata reforms are finalised, the hope is that a truly representative and democratic set of recommendations will have been agreed upon. Yet, as the years since the 18th Amendment was passed have demonstrated, a set of profound legislative changes will only be effective if there is a well-thought-out implementation process. On that score, the impending Fata reforms have at least three areas that need attention.
First, the proposed implementation committee provisionally to be led by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor has adequate federal representation, but lacks a provincial component. Given that the reforms appear to centre on the integration of Fata with KP, the lack of provincial representation is a potentially dangerous oversight. As the future chief executive of a unified province, the KP chief minister is best placed to guide the gigantic administrative task ahead. Without senior provincial representation, the experience of the 18th Amendment may be repeated, when provinces were unprepared for the wholesale transfer of powers, to the detriment of both the tribal areas and KP. Second, the Fata secretariat and the governor’s office need to be urgently strengthened. At present, neither have the administrative capacity to handle the manifold major tasks ahead — the Fata secretariat because it has been sidelined for years in the running of the region and is hardly the destination of choice for competent administrators, and the governor’s office because the incumbent has not proved to be a model of dynamism and initiative.
Third, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif himself needs to be more involved. Fata reforms have been discussed for years, but were formally enshrined in NAP in December 2014. Since then, by its own admission, the government has failed to make any major progress on multiple points of NAP, including certainly Fata reforms. If that is to change, if fresh energy is to be injected into — and then sustained over a period of years — the reforms and implementation process, the chief executive of the country will surely have to lead. Whatever the support and push from other institutions — be it the military or the democratically elected leadership of Fata — what is to be attempted in the tribal agencies is historic and dwarfs in political and administrative complexity anything undertaken by the state since Partition. Those tasks can only realistically be led by the chief executive of the country.
Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2016