FATA needs no Referendum

The expected mainstreaming of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas has catapulted the JUI-F, a major religious party and PML-N government ally, into a position of strength - a key development ahead of the 2018 general elections. Both Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa have met Maulana Fazlur Rahman, to persuade him to give up his opposition to FATA's planned merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa without success.
This lack of consensus is bound to provide Afghanistan with an opportunity to seek space for itself. It has clearly put its weight behind Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam and the Pakhtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), which likewise supports the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, by underscoring the need for seeking the consent of the tribal people on the planned merger of FATA with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. They seem to be in favour of a referendum in the tribal areas to ascertain if the population itself wants the merger, or seeks a separate province. Speaking to journalists in Peshawar on Wednesday, a senior Afghan diplomat suggested that consent from FATA tribals should be sought before a decision is taken on the matter. "Our government has no reservations over the merger, but the opinion of the people of the area is paramount" before such a major decision, the Afghan consul general in Peshawar, Mohammad Moeen Marastial, is reported as saying. His remarks give birth to doubts about Kabul's intentions in relation to the merger issue in view of certain historic facts: the accession of the tribal areas of what was North West Frontier Province until recently was one of the controversies that surrounded the Partition of the Subcontinent in 1947. It initially started between India and Pakistan but in the course of time the players changed and it ended up being a dispute between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The protracted deadlock over the implementation of the proposed FATA reforms package is adding to the enormity to the task of a FATA-KP merger task. The situation does not indicate the emergence of a breakthrough anytime soon either. It is therefore a serious matter of concern for all who advocate the merger. The first direct meeting between the government and a JUI-F team has failed to make any headway on the issues, which include the extension of the superior courts' jurisdiction to the region.
Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who led the government side during talks with a team of JUI-F Jirga council, is said to have met council members hours after Minister of State for Frontier Regions Abdul Qadir Baloch announced in parliament that the government intended to introduce a "Supreme Court and High Court (Extension of Jurisdiction to FATA) Bill 2017 in the National Assembly on Thursday." However, the bill was not presented before the assembly as the agenda issued for the session had no mention of the bill.
However, the government still appears optimistic about the passage of the proposed bill is concerned. Barrister Zafarullah Khan, who is looking after the Law Ministry after Zahid Hamid quit as law minister last month following the Faizabad incident, is said to have claimed that the two sides were "near a consensus." He said the meeting was held in a "cordial atmosphere" and both sides listened to the other's arguments with an open mind. Zafarullah Khan is also quoted as saying that the jirga had given counter-proposals worthy of consideration.
It is about time the federal government went beyond appeasing its allies all the times. This could only add new complexities to this highly sensitive issue. Through the passage of the bill, the government must implement all the recommendations that a special committee under Sartaj Aziz presented in order to mainstream the tribal areas in accordance with a timeline finalized by another committee, this time led by the prime minister himself.
In other words, the government must stop dragging its feet on the question. If need be, it must jettison its allies, must be told that they cannot reinvent history. They must also not lose sight of the historical fact that although the 1947 referendum was held in the settled districts of the NWFP, it was not an option in the tribal areas. There can be no two opinions about the fact that the consent of the tribal people is the most critical element in the festering issue, but it can be obtained on the pattern that Sir George Cunningham, the then governor of NWFP, had adopted 70 years ago. According to him, "I interviewed the jirgas of all the tribes from end to end of the frontier and, without exception, they [the tribes] stated and confirmed in written statements that they were part of Pakistan."