The Resurgence Of Historical Claims: Afghanistan's Ambitions In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa And Fata

Afghanistan's desire to reconquer Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA is unclear. However, there is a history of conflict and tension between the two regions.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province, is a province of Pakistan that shares an international border with Afghanistan. The region has historically been a site of invasions due to its proximity to the Khyber Pass.

FATA, or the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, was a semi-autonomous tribal region in northwestern Pakistan that existed from 1947 until it was merged with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2018. FATA was directly governed by the Pakistani federal government and consisted of seven tribal agencies and six frontier regions.

There has been an ongoing armed conflict involving Pakistan and Islamist militant groups in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, known as the War in North-West Pakistan or Pakistan's war on terror. The conflict began in 2004 when tensions escalated between Pakistan and Islamist militants seeking refuge in the bordering FATA region.

In 2004, Pakistan, with the encouragement of the United States, sent 80,000 troops into FATA to search for al-Qaeda operatives, facing fierce resistance from Pakistani Taliban. The Pakistani Taliban negotiated a truce with the army, indicating their control over the region.

In recent years, there have been debates and proposals to merge FATA with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with the aim of bringing FATA under the ambit of the Pakistani constitution and improving governance. However, the merger has faced opposition from some political parties and groups, including the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F (JUI-F) and the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), who argue that it goes against the will of the FATA people.

The decision on the merger was left to the next government, and in 2018, the National Assembly of Pakistan voted in favour of the merger, which was subsequently approved by the Senate and the Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The merger was officially completed on May 31, 2018, when it was signed into law by the Pakistani President.

The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) were merged with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2018

The FCR was a controversial British colonial-era law that granted large amounts of power to local leaders along the North-West Frontier as part of the process of indirect rule. The legislation was known as the "black law" due to its extremely harsh, inhuman, and discriminatory provisions.

The FATA was bordered by Afghanistan to the north and west, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the east, and Balochistan to the south. The region covered 27,200 sq km along Pakistan's mountainous northwestern border.

The merger of the FATA with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was a long-debated issue, with some political parties opposing the merger and calling for the tribal areas to become a separate province of Pakistan. The merger was finally approved by the National Assembly of Pakistan on May 24, 2018, with a vote of 229-1 in favour of the amendment. The Senate of Pakistan passed the amendment the following day, and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly approved it on May 27. The amendment received assent from President Mamnoon Hussain on May 31, 2018, officially merging the FATA with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The merger was intended to bring the FATA into the mainstream and provide its residents with equal rights and privileges as citizens of Pakistan. The FATA had previously been governed under the FCR, which denied its residents the right of legal representation and appeal, and enforced collective punishment against entire tribes for the crimes of individuals. The merger abolished the FCR and introduced Pakistani laws and governance structures in the region.

The merger has been seen as a historic opportunity to stabilize the region and provide solace to a population weary of conflict and displacement. However, the process has also been mired in bureaucracy and security concerns, resulting in a legal and administrative vacuum. The merger abolished the previous governance systems in the FATA without putting new structures in place, leading to a lack of law enforcement bodies to enforce Pakistani laws in the region.

The merger has had mixed reactions from the residents of the FATA. While some have welcomed the change and see it as a sign of hope, others have expressed concerns about the lack of progress and fear of the unknown. There are also worries that the merger will undermine the authority of tribal councils, or jirgas, which are popular among the Pashtuns for reflecting the values of "Pashtunwali", an unwritten and non-homogenous "code of conduct".

The Twenty-fifth Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan enabled the merger of FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

The Twenty-fifth Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan, passed in May 2018, enabled the merger of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA) with the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

The amendment was passed by the Parliament of Pakistan and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, and was signed into law by President Mamnoon Hussain on May 31, 2018.

The merger ended FATA's special status, which dated back to Pakistan's independence in 1947, and brought it under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Pakistan. FATA was previously governed by political officers appointed by the President of Pakistan, who held near-absolute power over the tribal districts.

The Twenty-fifth Amendment was the culmination of decades of efforts to merge FATA with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Former President Pervez Musharraf had considered the integration of FATA with the rest of the country, and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly had adopted a resolution in favour of the merger in 2016.

The amendment abolished the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR), a set of laws that governed FATA and were considered discriminatory and draconian. A $865 million package was allocated for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of infrastructure in the tribal areas.

The merger reduced the number of seats in the Senate and the National Assembly, and increased the number of seats in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly to accommodate FATA's representation.

The government of Afghanistan criticised the merger, stating that it contravened the Treaty of Rawalpindi between Afghanistan and British India. Pakistan rejected this accusation, arguing that the merger was not a "one-sided" decision.

The Twenty-fifth Amendment faced opposition from some political parties and FATA residents, who called for FATA to become a separate province with its own chief minister, governor, and public service commission. Despite this opposition, the amendment was passed with a majority vote in both houses of Parliament and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.

The FATA-Khyber Pakhtunkhwa merger was opposed by some political parties, including the JUI-F and PkMAP

The JUI-F, one of the major political parties in the tribal belt, opposed the merger on the pretext that it was part of American hegemonic designs in the region. The party had enjoyed a monopoly in FATA as all mainstream political parties were previously barred from contesting elections in the region. However, its hold began to weaken with the lifting of the ban, and it feared losing influence in FATA after the merger. The JUI-F also complained that the merger was not considering the will and opinion of the tribal people.

The PkMAP, on the other hand, had limited influence among the tribal maliks who supported the merger. By opposing the move, the PkMAP hoped to gain political mileage within FATA, particularly among militants opposed to the merger. The party organised a massive gathering of Pashtuns under the banner of "FATA Jirga" and demanded an Autonomous FATA province.

The opposition to the merger by these parties led to a country-wide debate and noisy protests by opposition members and legislators from the tribal areas. The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) eventually passed the buck to the next government on the controversial issue, just before the general elections.

The FATA-Khyber Pakhtunkhwa merger was supported by the PPP and PTI

The FATA-Khyber Pakhtunkhwa merger was passed by the National Assembly on 24 May 2018, with a 229-1 vote. The bill was then approved by the Senate on 25 May 2018, with a 71-5 vote. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly also passed the bill on 27 May 2018, with an 87-7 vote. The FATA Interim Governance Regulation was signed by the President of Pakistan on 28 May 2018, and the 25th Amendment received assent on 31 May 2018, officially merging FATA with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The FATA-Khyber Pakhtunkhwa merger was a significant decision that ended the 150-year-old British-era arrangement and brought much-needed reforms to the region.

The FATA-Khyber Pakhtunkhwa merger was delayed due to the upcoming general elections and the need for constituency delimitation

The merger was also delayed due to the need for constituency delimitation. The National Assembly had to be dissolved, and fresh delimitation of constituencies was required due to the increase in population from 207.7 million in 2017 to 241.5 million in 2023. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had to conduct fresh delimitation, and the compulsion was due to the stipulation laid down in Article 51(5) of the Constitution, which states that seats in the National Assembly shall be allocated based on population in accordance with the last preceding census.

The delimitation process was contentious and resulted in a total of 1,327 objections being filed. The delimitation across the country largely remained the same, with the most significant realignment occurring in Sindh, where the districts of Jacobabad and Kashmore, which previously had one seat each, were divided to accommodate two constituencies each. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the seats of the former tribal areas of Bajaur, Khyber, and Kurram were reduced from two to one each.

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