by khan zeb burki

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FATA Reforms
News on Reforms in Pakistan Tribal Areas
Useless representation for FATA (Khan Zeb Burki)
There is a need to abolish the FCR and extend constitution to the tribal region.
Parliamentarians are public representatives who legislate for the welfare of a country and its people
without any discrimination. But it is very unfortunate in Pakistan that these legislations may not be
applicable to all parts of the country.
he Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) is a region that has neither bene ted from any legislation, nor
has the parliament power to legislate for it. How helpless is this parliament! Should it be called a sovereign
body? Powerlessness of the Pakistani parliament in legislation for FATA puts a question mark upon its
sovereignty.
Generally, the parliament performs three functions; representation, legislation and parliamentary control.
The legislators from FATA are merely for the purpose of representation, while the remaining two functions
are beyond their ambit.
The question here arises as to why the tribesmen are passed through the hectic exercise of elections for
reaching the parliament where they have no right to legislate for their own people. Whether it is meant for
making these toothless lawmakers as a part of democratic process?
Before 1997, the Maliks, nominated by the Political Agent, were authorized to elect members of National
Assembly. But the presidential ordinance empowered the tribesmen to elect their representatives through
adult franchise in elections-1997. In 2011, the Political Parties Act was extended to FATA. But these
Ordinances could bring any change in the powers of parliamentarians.
The real function of the parliamentarians is to make law for the general public interest and safeguard the
rights of the people. FATA parliamentarians take part in such legislations which cannot bene t people of
their own constituencies. Their representation is solely meant for unjust favoritism and facilitation of their
relatives and friends.
The main objectives of FATA representatives are to get access to developmental funds of their
constituencies besides other facilities that a parliamentarian enjoys. The trend of misusing and defalcating
developmental funds of billions of rupees should be abolished. Is this the job of a legislator to construct
roads and bridges, violate merits, embezzle developmental funds and sell their allocated funds to other
constituency?

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FATA has a right to send 12 representatives to the lower house and eight senators to the upper house of
the parliament. Eleven Members of National Assembly (MNA) have been elected in the general elections
held on May 11, 2013. However, election in one of the 12 constituencies of FATA was postponed due to
security reasons.
The presence of FATA representatives in the parliament is useless until the constitution allows them to
legislate for the general welfare of their people.
All the powers to regulate FATA’s a airs are vested in a single man, the president, and no law or act of the
parliament is enforceable in tribal region.
Does it show that the constitution is biased towards the people of FATA? Is there no need to amend the
constitution? When it comes to FATA, constitution bows before a century old law, the Frontier Crime
Regulation (FCR) imposed by the British colonial empire. FATA has never witnessed the supremacy of the
constitution and the parliament.
Contrarily, tribesmen cannot exercise the rights embodied in the constitution, including the very basic and
natural rights like that of protection of property and life. The FCR authorizes the government to con scate
property and take lives of the people under the clause of collective responsibility. While critically reviewing,
the constitution is a supreme law but perversely it bows before the FCR in FATA. The parliament does not
exercise its supremacy in FATA as the president has full control over the tribal areas where he can bring any
legal and constitutional change through an ordinance.
Does it not a dual standard? Should one call it a discriminatory system?
There is a need to abolish the FCR and extend constitution to the tribal region at earnest and empower
the parliament to legislate for FATA people.
Otherwise, the practice of political rights like parties based elections through adult franchise cannot change
the destiny of FATA. The money and energy invested in the elections of the MNAs and senators may better
be utilized in other activities which directly bene t the people.
If representatives of 180 million people cannot abolish the colonial law or have no way to convince the
democratically elected president for doing so, and still insist that FATA should have toothless
representation in the parliament, than two words “nugatory representation” should be written on their
seats. [1]
It is not logical for the parliamentarians to sit in the parliament without having any right to legislate for their
people. Rather than sitting in the parliament, it will be a better option for FATA representatives to serve as
councilors to the president and to advise him on issues, problems and needs of tribal areas. It will facilitate
the president in understanding FATA a airs.

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Accordingly, it would be put the region on right track. It will further increase interest of the president in
solving the problems of the tribesmen. In this way, the people of FATA will be given their right
representation, and their issues will be better resolved.
By Khan Zeb Burki, M. Phil scholar and Tribal A airs analyst
[1] Nugatory = Of no value or importance. Useless; futile.
Source: http://www.thefrontierpost.com/article/43762/
This entry was posted in FATA Reforms Blogs, Frontier Post and tagged Article 247, FCR, Khan Zeb Burki,
MNA, National Assembly, Senator on September 26, 2013
[https://fatareforms.wordpress.com/2013/09/26/useless-representation-fata-khan-zeb-burki/] by FATA
Reforms.
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