KARACHI: The implications of a merger of the Fe­de­­r­al Administered Tri­bal Areas (Fata) into Khy­ber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) were looked into by Dr Sarfaraz Khan, a renowned expert on Russia and Cent­ral Asia, during a seminar organised by the department of international relations, University of Karachi on Monday.

Introducing the subject Dr Moonis Ahmar, professor of international relations at the university, said that Fata has more or less an autonomous status because of which it has served as a safe haven for smugglers, drug traffickers, the Taliban, etc. “Now there is the debate on whether Fata should or should not be merged into KP. There are several things which will change if it were to happen such as military deployment and its withdrawal from there. It will leave a vacuum. A vacuum, which could then very well be filled by terrorists,” he said.

“Fata has always played an important role in history due to its location,” said Dr Khan. “The narrow strip between Afghanistan and Pakistan comprising seven political agencies, namely, Bajaur, Mohmand, Orakzai, Khyber, Kurram, North Waziristan and South Waziristan altogether form Fata, which during the late 19th century and the early 20th century was a buffer between Czarist Russia and the British Empire, the two superpowers of the time,” he added.

It was explained that the British settled many areas in India but could not settle Fata. In 1917 the Russian Revolution saw the abolition of the empire, giving way to socialism. And after Pakistan gained independence, it found itself in British shoes with regards to Fata.

“There was a cosmetic debate in Pakistan that Afghanistan has not recognised the Durand border. Some say Afghanistan plays into India’s hands. Afghanistan never interfered or offered to help Pakistan during Pakistan’s two wars with India. But it is true that to justify their foreign policy the British had not cultivated the area. People there lacked education and skill. Their army is small and lacks training and technology. There is no comparison between the Pakistan Army and the Afghanistan Army,” the professor pointed out.

Age-old migration

He added that from time immemorial be it the Ghaznavids, the Khiljis or even migrants with cattle, they have usually come into Pakistan from the Afghan side, which happened again in the 1980s when Pakistan had a military ruler and some three million Afghans entered Pakistan. “Because we had martial law here, our Constitution was suspended and Ziaul Haq’s word was the law. He said they were Muhajireen-i-Makkah and we Ansar-i-Madinah. It pretty much meant that Pakistan at the time did not itself recognise the border, something which suited many here,” the professor explained.

“Meanwhile, not being recognised, Fata remained a lawless entity. Britain gave them that status and Pakistan wanted it continued. So after the Soviet forces withdrew from Afghanistan, there were the Taliban and all sorts of other extremists, but their seeds were sown way back.

“Growing up we didn’t even know what heroin was or what the Kalashnikov was. We didn’t care if the person sitting next to us was Shia, Sunni, Deobandi, Wahhabi or what but we do know or care to find out now, and this is all the product of [the] time when the Afghans entered here through Fata,” he said.

Then 9/11 happened. “No one from Afghanistan or Fata was responsible for it. They were Arabs but it is said that they were trained in Fata. In fact, Fata came into the limelight after 9/11 as a sanctuary for terrorists. The Pakistan Army had to carry out several operations to oust them. Various committees were formed to come out with reform packages for Fata,” he said while bringing up the committee formed by Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz coming up with the idea of merging Fata into KP.

“The implications of this move are several. Right now Fata has seats in Pakistan’s Senate. If Fata becomes Pata [Provincially Administered Tribal Area], they lose those seats as they become a part of KP. Then the 23 KP seats in the National Assembly will see a change of political balance as Pata, too, will have their seats among them,” Dr Sarfaraz Khan explained.

He added that the National Finance Com­mission Award will be renegotiated with 3pc from it being diverted to Pata for development. There will also be urban centres in all the agencies with certain regions proposed to connect with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

Among the positive outcomes there is the sharing of health and educational facilities. And another positive thing is that since the people of Fata and KP share language, culture and relationships, it will be a smooth merger as there won’t be any cultural conflicts.

Finally, the professor added that since there was no referendum for Punjab and Sindh’s becoming a part of Pakistan there is no need for a referendum to decide Fata’s fate. “Pakistan doesn’t have a good tradition of referendums anyway, like the referendums of Zia and Musharraf,” he concluded.

Published in Dawn, April 18th, 2017