When one listens to Politicians and News analysts, says things that can curb and minimise terrorism one wonders why these measures are not taken to eliminate terrorism. These measures are discussed in countless TV shows and News articles with these glaring and Glorious truths. Still the government won’t take these measures for mysterious and un-Explainable reasons. The country is on the Brink of Bankruptcy and it is facing with Terrorism Crises that is Severest then faced by any other country in the world. As Bad Economy is underlying cause of Terrorism.
1. Afghan Refugee Problem ;
There are 50, Lakhs Afghan refugees in Pakistan, Documented, and Undocumented they could be more, as the previous Refugee exits from major cities in Peshawar and Quetta and Karachi got settled again in the Tribal regions. They never went to Afghanistan after the UNHCR gave them money and transport to go to Afghanistan.
The Federal Government loves them but the Frontier and Balauchistan People are weary of them. They commit crimes. They are part of Madrassah,s and provided material for Terrorism. They are Involved in Street Crimes Drugs and Terrorism.
95 Percent of Global Drug Trade equalling 3 Trillions of US Dollars is done from Afghanistan. The Brother of Ahmed Karzai is implicated as one of the Biggest Drug barons. USA Afghanistan and Pakistan take no action against him. All the Drugs pass through Pakistan and to Karachi port where it shipped to the world.
This highlights the reason why President Karzai does not support Destruction of Poppy Crops in Afghanistan by NATO forces and even the Closing the Durand Line through, Mines to stop Cross Border Infiltrations.
The period for Refugee Deportation was 2009. Which has arrived, the Federal government won’t send them for mysterious reasons. Pakistan has more suicide bombings then Afghanistan, hence Afghanistan is more peaceful then Pakistan. So why not send them home when the timing is right. One can even Develop town ships for them on Borders on Afghan soil .
The federal government loves them, for obvious, reasons that it wants to please USA. and wont part with them, and it has granted an extension up to 2012. This matter was not considered to be discussed in sitting Parliament and provincial assemblies. So much so, for democracy , National Security and Public Opinion.
Pakistan Economy is bad we cannot sustain them and we are not getting any Aid from anybody for them now so lets part with Them before NWFP and Balauchistan Part with Pakistan and join Afghanistan. In a way, Taliban Movement has been established as separatist movement and the Present Military operation was started because Bajaur and Swat had been separated from Pakistan according to ISPR itself.
2. Durand Line border Sealing :
It is High time that we seal off the Border with Afghanistan with Live Mines, as it is Economically not possible to Man the complete borders with Army, which is almost 16, 000 Km in Length. Mining it with live mines specially the Borders with Swat, Malakand, Kurram agency, Waziristan and Lets not Forget the Balauchistan area, that is bordering Helemend.
If it is not mined then Terrorist can come from Afghanistan as Government is claiming after being trained in Afghanistan by Indian Raw agents and cause Havoc here. This may be a cheaper and economical solution as Pakistan manufactures mines.
As only 40 Points on Durand line which enable a vehicle to Cross. This is easy to plug by Government. With 40 Check posts.
The Immigration Control is non-Existent in FATA and there are department like the one present in Settled areas of NWFP to support governance not present in FATA. Afghan refugees who were supposed to be exiting Pakistan and were paid dollars to go Back all , went to FATA and settled there .
As the Electricity was free , no bills to pay and No Check and balance, as per FATA regulation , it provided them heaven on earth and protection of Tribal Culture . This enabled them to Fight wars in Afghanistan even without the Consent of Government of Pakistan very easily and make FATA as Heaven on Earth for Terrorism and foreigners as well.
Furthermore, absences of Elected Nazim and other official like commissionarate system enabled Zero Governance and Identifying of these Loop Holes. As practically the “Political Agent Just Governess is just on the Roads of FATA only.
Away from roads, there is Zero Governance.
3. Economic Aid to NWFP and Balauchistan :
Economic Aid is Promised by everybody, but is not delivered on Ground. The resistance is especially great from the Central Bureaucracy and Politicians. Even PM Yusaf Raza Gillani recently resisted lower Electricity Rates for NWFP, he said, “Electricity will be of same rate all over Pakistan.” . In fact the Per Unit, rates are Higher for NWFP as compared to that of Punjab and Sindh.
He completely undermined the effort by ANP to give relief to NWFP, which is destroyed economically because of terrorism and lack of Confidence by Businessmen to invest in this province. Out of 35 Billion Dollars of destruction Pakistan suffered, out of that 25 Billion is suffered by NWFP alone.
The common sense dictated that some relief and special incentives had to be provided for economic Viability of this province.
ANP wanted to adjust the Royalty of 500 Billion Rupees, which the Federal Government Owes to NWFP be adjusted by not increasing the electricity rates to NWFP. This would enable Investor confidence and more jobs for people and drastically reducing Terrorism as economic progress defeats it. A good Idea but Big Brother said no.
The PM is remains oblivious of what is right thing for Pakistan is? He wants to please the bigger province to which he belongs while closing his eyes to Plight of smaller provinces. In order to Please his constituency ,
His Power and Electricity minister raises the issue of Kalabagh dam frequently although the official policy is otherwise and Kalabagh issue is vetoed in 3 of 4 Provincial assemblies of Pakistan by same parliamentarians.
4. Economic Development of FATA :
The Reconstruction Zones for FATA as common sense dictates should be inside the Areas of FATA. To my utter surprise they are in Settled Areas of NWFP and Kashmir?. I cannot imagine the Incompetence of the Government Planners who did this. How can these regions provide some relief to people of FATA? When they are not situated at their doorsteps they have relocate and leaver their Homes to get Benefit from it.
The homes will remain the Way it was 100 years ago will remain the same for another 100 years . The PM was saying that he had approved a Medical college for FATA. I could not imagine his Naivety. The proposed FATA medical college is being proposed in Peshawar. Which already has 4 medical colleges. What good is another one? This shows what the establishment is doing to Promote Economic Development, Almost Nothing.
Even the FATA Secretariat is situated in Peshawar not in FATA. Jamrud is hardly one KM from Peshawar. This could be a better place for FATA secretariat and medical College should be made in Waziristan / Kurram Parichinar area / Bajaur, where it is needed the most.
The people of Tribal Areas have been frequently raising hue and cry about this White elephant which performed nothing tangible . Fata Secretariat only serves people who are employed as Civil servants and their Kith and Kins. In one scandal came out recently was it was bribing the Malik,s ( Local Leaders of FATA ) , was Fake Paper jobs and were getting FAT salaries into their Pockets . Even one FATA Parliamentarian was involve in Such salary taking from FATA secretariat and his case is in courts to Ban him , as Parliamentarians cannot be Government servants according to Constitution.
5. Tax free Zones in NWFP :
Tax Free Zones should be proposed in NWFP as they are proposed in Balauchistan and Punjab. Why the NWFP and FATA people have to Travel to Karachi and Punjab to get jobs, why not in their own Province. The Flawed Policies of Federal Government establishment has promoted mass Migration to Punjab and Sindh.
The Tax free zone is the right way forward. As almost 35% of Electricity is lost as Line losses ,on the way Planners should have made industries close to Tarbella and Electricity generation sources .
Gaddon was one such thing, which was established after it, was proposed by USA when it wanted to curb poppy Cultivation in PATA. When Nawaz Sharif Govt came, one of the first things it did was to finish the Tax-free status of Gaddon. Ultimately the, industries closed down one by one to perfect standstill now.
Even now China Industrial Zone in Nowshera was being shifted to Faisalabad Recently and Quietly to Protests of Local people, as reported by The NEWS recently.
This kind of Flawed policies should be avoided and more Tax free zones be proposed otherwise the Madrassah will have more and more recruits for suicide bombings.
The concept of containing NWFP with all the Problems of Afghan Refugees Now, the IDP of 2.7 Million, without any Livelihood and with War on Terror Played in FATA and NWFP Theatre and believing that all will be all right in Pakistan is a Naïve notion of our Leaders and Generals. This will produce more terrorist by hundreds as Camps in 80, S produced Mujahideen and Taliban.
The concept of Lower Freight Charges for provinces far away from the Port should be Introduced, Just like in INDIA, where the provinces that are far away from the port are having same freight charges as the ones where the Port is Situated.
Subsidies should be given to NWFP on electricity for next 5 years, to encourage more jobs creation; otherwise the people will stick to Terrorism as a job.
6. Province Name Dilemma;
Respect is demand of every human being, when a person is addressed by a name respect is generated. British Denied name to Frontier Province so to take revenge for its dismal performance in First, second Afghan wars where it lost nearly 99.9 Percent of its troops in 1850,s and 1870,s.
Its Divided and rule Policy was what prompted them not name this part of geography which it Forcible annexed from Amir Abdur-Rehman of Afghanistan in 1901. It divided the people cleverly in such geographical distribution so Pukhtuns could not achieve Full Democratic representation equal to population Size.
This they did by dividing them into Settled Area, FATA, PATA, NWFP, Northern Regions, and FR Regions. Even the Settled Area was divided into Hazara and Pushtoon areas. This Policy is Continuing uptil now in Pakistani Government.
Even the First CM of NWFP in 1937, Shabizada Abdul Qayum khan was a Kashmiri not from Pukhtuns population done on purpose to suppress Pushtoons. On ground, Population of Pukhtuns is not represented population wise even now as Population of FATA and FR, is not represented, and its correctly counted to this day.
Even today, The PML-N would not support the Naming of Province on the most populous people the Pukhtuns as on Ground the Hazara,s are shown to be in Majority by Government of Pakistan statistics for NWFP of settled areas only and based on that Statistics (erroneous) . Pukhtoons are Minority in Their own Province just as Balauchs are Minority in Balauchistan to Pukhtoons all magic of mighty British Empire.
7. Kalabagh Dam issue:
Democracy is something that follows the Mandate of People, what if a Dam that is opposed by three out of four provinces and their respective provincial assemblies of NWFP, Sindh, and Balauchistan have passed unanimous resolutions against it.
Still PML-N and PML-Q and some other parties that have power base in Punjab would give statements in favour of Kalabagh Dam. It is shameful politics. This is what we call Civilian dictator ship behaviour from PML-N and PML-Q when it would not listen to even elected representatives and Assemblies.
The fact is Kalabagh Dam has landed us in trouble, if we had abandoned it earlier the better it would have been. We could have channelled the wasted spent money on its Surveys, smaller dams and Smaller Hydle project would have completed earlier and hence no load shedding now.
Punjab is stealing NWFP share of water totalling about 30 percent of NWFP share for the last 60 years. Which is also , another thorn in the issue.
When some MAF water is stopped by, India Bureaucracy talks of war. When it itself steals water of smaller provinces it is routine Matter.
If the Wall of Large Canal system in Punjab is Patented (Concreted), it will save Water equal to three (3 ) Kalabagh Dams. As we loose this amount of water due to Water logging. The Potential for Electricity is 4000 Megawatts and that from May to September only in a year from Kalabagh dam ( as Dam gates are closed to store water ) and from Smaller Hydle Projects in Just NWFP would be 30, 000 Megawatts all year around.
8. Smaller Hydle Projects ;
NWFP has Hydle project potential of 30 thousand Megawatts, due to Punjabi dominated establishment it is never allowed to work on these and many measures were taken to prevent it.
While present PPP government is working on generating expensive electricity form Furnace Oil based power plants. It will not allow small hydle Projects on streams and rivers and smaller dams. In NWFP. This will produce cleaner and cheaper Electricity.
This Policy of not doing the right thing is because of Punjab dominance on NWFP resources through Bureaucracy.
When whole of country is, darkened by Load shedding crises, the policies of those sitting in Wapda offices, in Lahore and in Islamabad is beyond comprehension. Even if somebody wants to establish a Power generation unit the Procedure is made so complex that people run away from it.
It may be noted that Chasma Power plant was shifted to Geographical location of Punjab, as in original Blue prints, it was in NWFP. So that NWFP could not get Royalty form it.
Recently the Diamer Bhassa dame royalty issue are also not Finalised and NWFP and Northern Areas are kept away from it.
Many of The projects are given to Private sector rather then NWFP Government. Just to keep an upper hand and Deny Royalty to NWFP.
The Kurram Tangi dam projects has hit snags from the Punjab dominated Bureaucracy and being Delayed Unnecessarily. This on Top of Useless and False propaganda from Punjabi dominated Bureaucracy that NWFP is delaying it .
The Biggest Hurdle to this is Ministry of Power and the NEPRA, which does not allow small investor to Invest in this industry by not giving favourable rates and slapping the Investor with ridiculous conditions. IT is interesting, when about 100 applications were filled for Wind energy only one could be successful due to NEPRA.
9. Royalty on Crops produced in NWFP ;
The Crops produced in NWFP, does not pay royalty to NWFP, but are paid to Federal Government.
This discrepancy is strange when all crops grown in Punjab pay royalty to Punjab Government.
All these measure produce economic deprivation to NWFP, which lead to generating hate towards the Centre. One should wake up before something else happens.
10. FC Deployment out of NWFP;
While the NWFP is worst hit by terrorism the Frontier Constabulary that is supposed to work in NWFP and FATA, 35-40 Platoons are deployed out of NWFP and FATA. The Taxpayers money of NWFP is spent out side of NWFP. When it is needed the most and Police is plagued by deficiencies in this Targeted province by Terrorism.
The Government has recently Increased the Salary of Cops in Islamabad costing One Billion rupees , it has totally ignored the NWFP. Even the funds are not, being provided to Increase the Police Force. Even NWFP cannot afford to fund to Keep a Elite Force of Commando force that Punjab has and NWFP doest have. The Punjab cannot be safe when Policies of Federation make NWFP, unstable.
This behaviour is Un- tolerable and Against the Pakistan National Interests Well being. People have started questioning it now.
The solution to Swat PATA( Provincially Administrated Tribal Areas ) region, comprising of Buner, swat, Shangla, Malakand, Upper dir and Lower Dir there is no Presence of Frontier Constabulary , A new force should be raised to cater its needs.
The absence and the power Vacuum this creates is the most important Factor in allowing the Taliban to get hold in these areas. When Army actions takes place, the place is cleared the Taliban’s come back again to form their government immediately and run thier courts . As the Machinery to Protect is not deployed there Physically .
Recruit of More police should be done immediately especially in Areas where operation are being performed by Army. In Fata , the Police should be deployed with Thanas as this is most effective measure of Intelligence Gathering and Control over Local populations . This can be done when it is changed into Settled Areas rather then PATA as Government wishes.
11. Governance issues of FATA;
FATA after the Afghan jihad era ,and then later in Taliban era, and now, when war on terror is being fought there and Being lost . After 1901 when FATA, NWFP and Balauchistan, was separated from Afghanistan. The Governance from the last 100 years is Malik system of Governance? , that only village elders would vote.
During the Pakistani Government Phase the political Agent Lost the Governance and Power to Control, A major Loss in Control over FATA by the Pakistani Government. Occurred when it lost the support of the Malik,s and as Voting rights to Individuals was introduced in 1997 during Nawaz Shareef rule.
Bad Decision by the Government then as it Strangely Missed out , the Political parties act to be extended to FATA, This enabled the Individuals to Vote although, Political parties were not Authorised and to field their candidates . Creating a Vacuum, which was exploited by Criminals and Religious Outfits? . Mosque became the political Head quarter and MMA was one to gains most as these parties were the one which supplied weapons to Mujahideen and Taliban and were rich . Terrorism spread because of their hold on FATA. Otherwise, these parties never Take more than 15% vote in Fair and free Elections.
Despite the introduction of adult franchise, the people of the Tribal Areas do not yet enjoy political and legal rights as equal citizens of Pakistan as their transition from autonomous regions into full settled areas with representation with the government has often been slowed down by Local Malik,s, .
who are gradually losing their traditional power to Taliban, but they are the Biggest Hurdle to progress as they oppose changing to Settled areas although Practically they are powerless now and they Argue a lot to maintain status quo.
Article 25 of the 1973 Constitution declares that all citizens of Pakistan are equal before law; but this article is not applicable to FATA, although under Article 1 of the Constitution FATA is part of the territories of Pakistan, many in Pakistan and particularly in FATA want, this changed. The two elections (1997 and 2002) following the introduction of adult franchise in FATA were held on non-party basis.
The Religious organisations and parties enjoy unchecked, power here by the Government of Pakistan. While political Parties does not.
Article 247 is also another issue as due to this the Supreme court of Pakistan, The Provincial Assembly of NWFP and National Assembly has no Authority on FATA and PATA ( Swat , Dir and Malakand ) . This explains the Rapid Talibanisation there.
12. Local Government and Justice Courts :
Under Article 247 of the Constitution, federal government enjoys absolute authority over the Tribal Areas. Under sub-section (7) of the same Article, High Courts and Supreme Court of Pakistan are barred from exercising jurisdiction over FATA.
The draconian law known as Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) , Formed to Crush Tribes Men after this area was forcibly annexed from Afghanistan, framed by the British in 1901 to keep the people of Tribal Areas under suppression is still the law of the Tribal Areas. As without any Though Zulfiqar Bhutto chose to make it part of 1973 constitution. If there is any law which is British and not changed it is this Draconian law.
Article 25 of the 1973 Constitution declares that all citizens of Pakistan are equal before law; but this article is not applicable to FATA, although under Article 1 of the Constitution FATA is part of the territories of Pakistan.
This Strange Anomoly has not been adressed for the last 60 years and Even when the PPP Government has put it as part of Party manifesto has not done anything concreate so Far. The Citizen of FATA lives as Non- citizens of the Country in 2009.
Local Governemnts are also lacking here , Even this simple tool can lead to Econoimic activities has been Absent to Population of 3,176,331 Inhibitants FATA and Countless Un-counted , Afghan Refugees who refused to leave the FATA in addition as there is no Bills like electricty and water to pay and is free according to FATA regulations .
All the funds and Administrated from are managed from an Area outside the FATA in a secratariate which does not exist on FATA Soil and is Managed from Islamabad by remote control. Mostly consisting of Corrupt Beurucrates is another hurdle in Progress.
Dr. Alija Khan
