News analysis: Pakistan plans reforms in militancy-hit tribal regions

A high level committee in Pakistan is working on comprehensive reforms to bring the country's tribal regions to the national mainstream as violent extremism and terrorism in nearly a decade has badly disrupted the lives of the tribal people.

The reforms include an important suggestion to merge the tribal areas into the northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province so they have representation in the provincial assembly.

Presently the Federally Administered Tribal Areas or FATA does not have representation in the provincial assembly. However, the National Assembly and the Senate have members from the tribal regions. Another proposal is that a FATA elected executive council should be formed to elect chief executive like provincial chief ministers.

The idea behind the government move is to remove the sense of deprivation among the people of FATA as the activities of armed groups have damaged their traditional system of "jirgas" or council of elders. Jirgas had long been the only accepted way to settle disputes among the tribesmen. However, hundreds of tribal elders have been killed in target attacks allegedly by the Pakistani Taliban and other militant groups, disrupting the tradition.

There are high hopes for the revival of the traditional jirga system as a series of major military operations have cleared all tribal regions of the Taliban and other Pakistani and foreign militants and the writ of the local authorities has been established. Now the government plan to put in place reforms could bring the tribal regions at par with the other parts of the country.

The tribal regions, six of which border Afghanistan, are controlled directly by the center through governor of KPK and are governed under the British-era Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) that give more powers to the administrative officers known as Political Agents. His decision cannot be challenged in the FCR system but now establishment of a court is part of the reforms so the tribesmen have the right of appeal.

Adviser to the Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz is heading the special committee, which is now in the process of consultations with the tribal people and different segments of the society to seek their input and evolve a larger consensus on the reforms.

Separately, lawmakers from the tribal areas have submitted a private bill in the national parliament that mainly suggests FATA merger into the KPK, giving the tribal areas a status of a province or forming an elected council of FATA in the pattern of provincial assemblies.

"This Constitutional Amendment Bill seeks to give protection to the people of Tribal Areas as regards human rights, their equal treatment before the law and enjoyment of all protections provided in the constitution,thus bringing the people of Tribal Areas to the mainstream," the text of the bill reads.

Leader of the FATA MPs group Alhaj Shah Jee Gul Afridi has said tribal lawmakers are hopeful to win a majority support in the parliament for their private bill.

"We want a status for FATA as it has been a center of humiliation for Pakistan in the world. We do not want the label remains attached to us," Haji Gul has told Xinhua. He also urged all political parties to support their bill.

Support for the proposed reforms has substantially grown as a vast majority in the tribal regions wants improvement in the image of their areas tarnished due to activities of armed groups there. These groups had been blamed for terrorism across the country and even on the other side of the border into Afghanistan. Endit