Governance Reforms in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan: The Past and Present
FATA of Pakistan: A Brief IntroductionFederally Administered Tribal Areas extending over 27220 sq. km along Pak-Afghan border covers 3.4 per cent of Pakistan's land area. This mountainous land is inhabited by a majority of pakhtun population. It is surrounded by the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the north and east, the province of Balochistan in the south, the province of Punjab in the south-east and in the west by the state of Afghanistan (IPRI Factfile, 2008, p. 15). It is thus connected in the north with the district of Lower Dir of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, whereas in the east with the districts of Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan, Karak, Kohat, Lakki Marwat, Malakand, Nowshera, Charsadda and Peshawar. In the southeast, FATA is physically linked with the district of Dera Ghazi Khan in the Punjab province, while in the south it joins the districts of Zhob and Musa Khel of Balochistan province (Ibid, p. 21). Pak-Afghan border also known as Durand Line lies to the west of FATA.FATA is consisted of seven political agencies and six tribal pockets called 'Frontier Regions'. The political agencies are, Bajaur, Khyber, Kurram, Mohmand, North Waziristan, Orakzai and South Waziristan agency. Whereas Frontier Regions are in the district of Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan, Kohat, Lakki Marwat, Peshawar and Tank. With a minor exception of Orakzai agency, the rest the political agencies have common border with the state of Afghanistan (GOP, 2006, p. 3). To the north and west, FATA and the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa collectively join a chain of nine provinces in Afghanistan from north to south i.e. Nuristan, Kunar, Nangarhar, Khost, Paktika, Zabol, Kandahar, Helmand and Nimruz, which are predominantly inhabited by pakhtun ethnic group (Shuja, 2009, p. 2). The census report of Pakistan 1998 demonstrates 3.138 million population of these areas which makes 2.4 per cent of the total population of the country. But the current estimate shows its population almost 3.5 million. FATA is inhabited by majority of pakhtun tribes with a limited number of other religious groups such as Sikhs and Hindus (Sarfraz: 2008, pp. 8-9).Origin of the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR)The British government strengthened their basis of power by establishing a strategic and effective judicial system and an archive of legal record of the necessary documents which ultimately assisted them in tax collection and maintaining public order during the mid of 19th century in British India. The government was mostly cautious against collective criminal activities and considered it as a direct menace to the empire rather than individual crimes (Nichols, 2013, p. x). The colonial authorities after thorough visualization drafted and executed a comprehensive system of legal and formal codes in the form of Indian Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure in order to rule British India effectively. In the like manner, Criminal Tribes Act was also designed from 1871 through which the government watched, registered and controlled certain tribes. However, the British official authorities realized within a short span of time that these formal codes, laws, rules of evidence and fact-finding potentials were insufficient to control lofty velocity of crimes in Peshawar valley in general and in the Afghan border regions set a part as tribal agencies in particular. The colonial authorities quickly differentiated between the peaceful agriculturists residing in the valleys and wild tribesmen of the frontier border. The only distinction of the settled district was that surveys of formal tax revenue and settlement had been completed while the rest of the situation and general environ of settled district and tribal belt was almost alike. When the government observed high rate of killings, robberies and violence across Peshawar valley, the government eventually developed the Punjab Frontier Crimes Regulation and implemented it in early 1872 (Ibid, pp. x-xi). After the establishment of North West Frontier Province, the government executed the same Regulation with some minor modifications which was called Frontier Crimes Regulation 1901 (Ibid, p. …
A Comprehensive Appraisal of the Wild Food Plants and Food System of Tribal Cultures in the Hindu Kush Mountain Range; a Way Forward for Balancing Human Nutrition and Food Security
The tribal belt of the Hindu Kush mountains is famous for its unique culture, ethnography, wild food plants, food systems, and traditional knowledge. People in this region gather wild plants and plant parts using them directly or in traditional cuisine, or sell them in local markets. However, there is a huge lack of documentation of the food system, particularly that related to wild food plants (WFP). In the current study, we focus on the uses and contributions of WFPs in the traditional tribal food system of the Hindu Kush valleys along the Pakistan–Afghanistan border. Ethnobotanical data were gathered through questionnaire surveys of 84 informants, including 69 men and 15 women, belonging to 21 different villages of the chosen area. In tribal societies men and women rarely mix and thus very few women took part in the surveys. We documented 63 WFP species belonging to 34 botanical families, of which 27 were used as vegetables, 24 as fruits, six in different kinds of chutneys (starters), and six as fresh food species. Fruits were the most used part (41%), followed by leaves (24%), aerial parts (24%), seeds (7%), stems (3%), and young inflorescences (1%). The reported uses of Carthamus oxyacantha, Pinus roxburghii seeds, and Marsilea quadrifolia leaves are novel for the gastronomy of Pakistan. The results reveal that WFPs provide a significant contribution to local food systems and play a role in addressing human nutritional needs, which are usually not met through farming practices. The tribal peoples of the Hindu Kush use WFPs for their nutritional value, but also as a cultural practice—an inseparable component of the tribal community’s lifestyle. This important traditional knowledge about the gathering and consumption of WFPs, however, is eroding at an alarming rate among younger generations due to the introduction of fast-food, modernization, and globalization. Therefore, appropriate strategies are imperative not only to safeguard traditional plants and food knowledge and practices, as well as the cultural heritage attached to them, but also to foster food security and thus public healthcare via local wild foods in the region.
Viewpoint: Pakistan's Last Chance
Abstract : Next to the global economic meltdown, the implosion of Pakistan tops the list of urgent problems demanding immediate attention. A new strategy for Pakistan is long overdue in light of the continued expansion of terrorism and nuclear weapons production in a country that could soon be a failed state. The current U.S. policy toward Pakistan is failing, but the tools are in place for the Obama administration to help Pakistan save itself. A nuclear armed Pakistan unable to contain al Qaeda and those who share its objectives poses an unacceptable threat. The terrorists' immediate target is Pakistan's fragile democratic government, but their ambitions are global and threaten everyone who does not accept their noxious ideology. Predictably, efforts by Pakistan's government to negotiate peace deals with the extremists have enabled the Taliban to consolidate their positions and prepare new attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Afghanistan itself is a mess, with opium production that fuels drug addiction and terrorism around the world, and the Karzai government barely able to control its own capitol of Kabul. While it might be tempting to turn our backs on this hornet's nest, we do so at our peril. Pakistan needs help to save itself from militant Islamic extremism, and the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) is not the answer. The new plan must defeat the destructive trends emanating from Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) -- the remote and long-neglected region on the Pakistan-Afghan border where al Qaeda has established a beachhead. The new plan would initiate the next phase of the GWOT under a more unifying banner such as the global alliance for peace and progress. We would shift the predominantly military focus of our counterterrorism efforts to encompass the full range of economic and political tools necessary to change the direction of this troubled territory. But first, we must use military force to remove the Taliban and al Qaeda from the FATA.