Let there be a referendum on merger

The best time to determine the future of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) was in 1948 when tribal leaders 'from across the borders of British India' pledged loyalty to the newly-created Pakistan. The second best time is perhaps now even when the Fata Reforms Report is more an exercise in fiction-writing than dealing with ground realities. Rightly then it has run into hot waters. Of the four options as future of the seven tribal agencies - maintain status quo, create Fata Council on the pattern of Gilgit-Baltistan, create a separate province and merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa - the Sartaj Aziz-headed committee recommended the last. And as we said in this space before, the merger option seems to have been given primacy essentially because it is administratively convenient. The opposition to the merger option hasn't come from the majority of the mainstream political parties, but from the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazl) and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party - the two who enjoy relatively greater political clout than the mainstream parties in tribal areas, and therefore have undeniable right to be heard in this matter. Both of them are coalition partners of the ruling PML (N), but have rejected the option of KP-FATA merger. JUI (F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman claims that the reforms committee violated its mandate. According to him, it was tasked to propose reforms for political mainstreaming of Fata and nowhere was it asked to suggest its merger. He is also of the strong view that the merger proposal is quite unpopular. Therefore, let the residents of FATA decide their future which is possible only through a referendum. Initially, the government had rejected the idea of holding a referendum fearing it could trigger demands for more provinces in the country. However, now the prime minister is said to have "directed to give weight to what Maulana Sahib says" - which in essence means relegating the reforms package to the backburner.
But that doesn't sit well with the pro-merger lobbies. In the words of Qaumi Watan Party chairman Aftab Sherpao, who is an ardent supporter of the merger option, the prime minister's decision is "tantamount to keeping the Pakhtuns deprived of their fundamental rights under an organised plan." The question, however, has taken the centre stage in the Pukhtoon discourse in particular. It should not be delayed. Without coming to grips with this question rest of so-called reforms package cannot be implemented. Its timely settlement is imperative also because any inordinate delay could revive the calls not heard for quite some time. Perhaps but for this debate there was not much of a cause with Mahmood Khan Achakzai to call for creation of a new province named 'Afghania'. Addressing a gathering held in Islamabad on the 43rd death anniversary of Abdul Samad Khan Achakzai, he claimed the Pushtun live in areas from the Durand Line to Mianwali. Therefore, "this 150,000 square-kilometre area in which they live should be declared the Afghania province". He also wants the Afghan refugees to be given Pakistani citizenship. One must not lose sight of the fact that the FATA issue could reignite many a dead fire in the absence of any easy resolution. One may ask which Pushtun the two were talking about. Those who live in KP or FATA? Obviously, the Pakhtuns who are to decide their future are those who reside in FATA. Let them decide their destiny the way they want. Now that the merger issue has come to dominate the debate it there should be referendum on that. That decided rest of the pieces would fall in their places. The ideal time for that would be when the national census is undertaken. If the census has to be two-phased in rest of the country it may be three-phased in FATA. In addition to population and house count, there should be a referendum on the question of FATA-KP merger.