Leaders of seven political parties said on Tuesday that the government had lost its writ in all tribal agencies and frontier regions where extremist elements were organising themselves. The leaders announced the formation of the FATA Siasi Ittehad (FATA Political Alliance) to pressurise the government to implement the Political Parties Act in the tribal areas. “Tribal people are passing through the worst period of their history. The government has lost its writ in the tribal areas due to extremist elements that are now organising themselves there,” said Malik Waris Khan Afridi, Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) leader, while addressing a news conference with other political leaders at the Peshawar Press Club. Afridi said extremism had damaged tribal customs and traditions, due to which tribal jirgas had lost importance.
He said FATA’s people were confronting the Frontier Crime Regulations (FCR) introduced by the British government in 1901, and wanted reforms in the tribal areas. “Young tribesmen have a dark future as unemployment has reached a dangerous point and there is an absence of peace,” he said. Afridi termed the FATA Grand Alliance “a product of the establishment”, and asked that why the people who had formed the alliance had not raised their voice in parliament before if they were sincere. He said political parties represented people which was the reason they had formed the FATA Political Alliance (FPA) to pressurise the government to enforce the Political Parties Act in the tribal areas. “The political alliance, consisting of seven political parties, will solve the tribal people’s problems,” he added. He said the FPA would consult FATA parliamentarians, lawyers, doctors, tribal elders and people belonging to other walks of life to solve tribal problems. Afridi said the FPA would also arrange public meetings and demonstrations for the acceptance of their demands, including the reform package prepared by former governor Iftikhar Hussain Shah. He said the FPA would make decisions regarding the National Finance Commission (NFC) award, local government elections, FCR, Warsak Dam royalty, minerals and unemployment.
Afridi refused to comment on the growing Talibanisation in the tribal areas, saying that every party had its own viewpoint on the issue. “We’ll talk about it later,” he said. Muhammad Iqbal Afridi and Noor Alam Afridi of the Tehrik-e-Insaaf Pakistan (TIP), Farhad Shahab of the PPPP, Imran Afridi and Abdur Rahim Afridi of the Awami National Party (ANP), Malik Zahir Shah Afridi and Said Malook Aurakzai of the PML-Q, Zar Noor Afridi and Hasan Shinwari from the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Said Wali Shah from the PML-N and Mufti Ijaz and Qari Muhammad Azeem of the JUI were also present at the press conference.