Shahid Ilyas
The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) lies on the Pak Afghan border. This area is administratively divided into 7 districts. North and South Waziristan are the two districts from among these. Waziristan, as the rest of the ethnic Pushtun inhabited areas on both sides of the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, is a rough mountanious area. This region is socially and geographically divided into tribes. The main tribes in Waziristan are the Wazirs, the Mehsuds, Dawars, Betani and Burki.
In the tribal areas, there is virtually no industry. Human conditions are worst. In Pakistan generally, human conditions in terms of education, healthcare and poverty are very bad. In FATA they are worst. Statistics show that what is available to the people of the rest of the country in terms of the above mentioned fields, in the tribal areas they are half the ratio of the rest of the country. Joblessness, poverty and illiteracy are widespread.
“GOVERNANCE” IN WAZIRISTAN
Politically, this region is administered directly by the president of Pakistan through a governer and further down the line through a political agent. According to the constitution of Pakistan, the laws passed by the parliament are not applicable to the tribal areas. The courts have no jurisdiction in tribal areas. There is no police force. Constitutionally, the president through governer and political agent shall run the region according to the Frontiers Crimes Regulations (FCR). FCR (1872) is a British era legal instrument. The British used to try to control these tribes through this law. According to FCR, law and order in the region will be maintained in this region by the political agent through a clause in FCR which provides for the collective responsibilitiy of tribes for crimes committed in their vicinity. According to this concept, if a person belonging to a certain tribe commits a crime, the whole tribe will be held responsible for that. For example, the population of a tribe is 100000 heads. One person among these 100000 commits a crime, this whole number will be subject to arrest and execution.
The political agent is a civil servant of the government of Pakistan. He can arrest and imprison a person for 10 years. Upon this, such actions of political agent cannot be appealed against in any court of law in Pakistan.
Another instrument of the administration of the tribal areas is the malik system. According to this, the political agents appoint a headman for every village. This headman is given many favors. In return, the headman is required to enlist the loyalty of the common folks towards the government. The headman in local parlance is called malik. The malik gets a “pocket Money” from the political agent every month. Apart from this, while chalking out the Annual Development Project (ADP), the political agent asks his favorite maliks to forward their plans for development in their respective villages. The maliks generally write applications in which they request the construction of primary schools and small healthcare facilities. Very often, the influential maliks bribe the political administration to “put” their projects in the ADP. What the malik gets if his recommended Project is approved? He gets the construction contract for the building. He gets the building by the virtue of providing “free land” for it. The employees of the school or hospitals are appointed from the headman family. In construction, if the total amount is 20,000 dollars, the malik by way of using below Standard material, saves at least 10,000 dollars. This goes to his pocket and to the pocket of the overseer from the government. The overseer further circulate his “share” up the ladder and a good part of it generally reaches the pocket of the political agent. Secondly, these schools become ghost schools. In the education headquarters, entries vis a vis teachers and other employees are made and regular salaries are taken by the malik in the name of those ghost teachers and employees. The malik gives a good amount every month to the education officials in order to keep the process going. The buildings supposed to be hospitals and schools are thus turned into the malik’s “Mehman Khana” (guest House.)
UNIQUE “FREEDOMS”
Apart from the above “developmental process”, the people of the tribal areas are granted two unique “freedoms”. Number one, they are allowed to manufacture, carry and trade in freely, guns, grenades, rocket launchers and any kind of other lethal weapons. Number two, they are allowed to produce, consume and trade in freely, drugs of all kinds including opium, heroine and hasheesh. As a result of these “freedoms”, one can see every second person in the villages and bazars carrying Klashinkov and other sophisticated guns. In the same way, every second person is addicted to some kind of drugs, including Hasheesh, opium and Heroine. According to the FCR, the government is not entitled to interfere with these “freedoms” of the tribes. Yes there is one exception, that though the tribesmen can kill each other without any answerability to law, however they cannot execute this kind of murders on government property including roads, schools, hospitals etc. Other than that, the government has no right to interfere with the tribal “freedom” of killing each other or their freedom to consume and trade in drugs. Thanks to these “freedoms”, these tribes have the honor of producing world known smugglers in drugs and weapons.
The people of Waziristan, due to their un-awareness about the modern concepts of living, strictly adhere to “joint family system”. This means that three generations live together, which includes grandfather and Grand mother, their childern and their grandchildern. Sometimes it further extends to great Grand childern. People are deeply religious and conservative and they consider birth control as infidelity. Therefore, every married couple till reaching the age of 65 has on average 8 childern. People marry at the age of 20 for men and at the age of 16 for women on average. They start family from the first year and childern are born till the time it is physically possible fort he couple. When it naturally stops, they stop looking forward to the coming of a new child.
AN AVERAGE “FAMILY” IN WAZIRISTAN
Parents----------------65 years
4 childern from the age of 25 to 35
4 childern from the age 15 to 24
Among these, for example there are two brothers and two sisters in the age group of 25 to 35. The sisters are married to another family and they already have two childern each. The two brothers in this age group live in their father’s house and both are married. On average people in this age group have already given birth to 4 childern.
Now imagine that in Waziristan, the following numbers of people live in a mud house of 4 rooms, and no bathrooms, no toilets, no proper kitchens.
Grandparents-------2
Their childern-----2
Their childern’s childern------8
Now the remaining 4 childern of the age group between 15 and 25. Among these for instance two are girls and two boys. One girl is 20 years and she has already been married to another household and she has started a family with a child. The other sister is yet 15 years and not yet married. Among the two males, one is 23 and he is already married with two childern. The other one is not yet married who is 17 years of age.
Now in this case, an average family in Waziristan in the “joint family system” consists of 19 members. Imagine 19 people living in the same home without the basic facilities of life including education, healthcare and clean water and exposed to the evils of drugs and guns. Family brawls between brothers, fathers and sons, daughters and mothers is everyday occurance in these households. Upon this, the absence of industry and agriculture, joblessness and the lack of proper food make life hell for them. They try to find escape from these worries in their overcrowded “houses”. In that environment, they tend to indulge in activities which are suicidal. Since there are no recreational facilities, no theatre, no cinema, no sports, the youngsters try to find something thrilling in their otherwise depressed lives. This thrill they satisfy in joining the terrorists, walking on dangerous mountainious tracks with a gun or rocket launcher on their shoulders, cooking and eating in the open air and making some gymnastics in the terrorist training schools in the mountains on the Pak-Afghan border. The terrorist leaders find a fertile ground among these tribes to enlist young boys for suicide bombs in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
CONCLUSION
The tribes of FATA have never seen the beauty of life. Therefore they cannot value it. The ones among them who are lucky enough to see the cities, they shift their families there and enjoy life. Bringing civilization to a people who have been kept in dark for centuries will need time, deep imagination and big investment. A process of industrialization has to be started in order to provide these tribes with jobs. Real schools with real teachers have to be built and modern education given to them. The ridiculous system of political agents has to be abolished and replaced with modern administrative system. These areas have to be developed on Faisalabad and Lahore style. This means that billions of dollars every year needs to be allocated to these areas every year. This process will take at least 30 years of consistent and high investment in the above mentioned fields. Only then the war on terror can be won in that part of the world. A war against a group of suiciders cannot be won by the power of the gun. Only convincing them not to make suicide will work. That convincing can be brought about by way of showing them the beauty of life through development and beter life standards.
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