HISTORY has been made; Fata is no more. Established on Aug 14, 1947, the colonial construct has finally been dismantled and the people of the region now have formal access to the constitutional and political rights that are legally available to all citizens of Pakistan. Whatever the challenges ahead, whatever the impediments to a smooth merger of Fata with KP, whatever the dangers to the democratic project in the country today, set them aside for a brief moment to acknowledge the immense step collectively taken towards a more perfect union and a better federation. A vast political consensus and agreement by all institutions of the state that Fata had to be dissolved and the region merged with KP is an immense achievement. It demonstrates that core beliefs about the Constitution, the enduring reflection of the will of the people, still prevail, and that Pakistan can and should only be ruled in a democratic, constitutional manner, with the rule of law, freedoms for all and the greater good of the people kept at the heart of state decision-making.

The final days of the current parliament and the KP Assembly will be rightly remembered in history as when the elected representatives did the right thing by the people of Pakistan. Congratulations to all the people of the old Fata and the new KP are truly in order. If the state is to deliver what it has now pledged to the people of Fata, however, there is much work that remains to be done. Take the province of Balochistan, large parts of which are comparable socioeconomically and in terms of governance to the Fata region. Balochistan has for many decades had the same formal systems of governance as do the other three provinces, but that has not transformed the province or improved the quality of life for the people very much. Fata may avoid a similar fate because a merger with KP will give it access to already functional institutions, but like south Punjab or south KP, without real political commitment by traditional centres of power, meaningful change at the periphery is difficult.

There is also the more recent experience with the 18th Amendment. A vast transfer of powers and responsibilities to the provinces from the centre has not led to quick or significant improvements across a range of subjects now under provincial control. The 18th Amendment is politically irreversible as are the changes in Fata, but governance is also about the hard work of strengthening institutions at the grass roots and local levels. Finally, while major military operations and counter-insurgency operations in Fata have come to an end, the region is a recovering war zone and instability is still a threat. Care must be taken to support nascent political institutions in the now former region of Fata.

Published in Dawn, May 29th, 2018