As part of its efforts for peace and development in the volatile tribal areas, FATA Research Centre (FRC) has been holding regular seminars on various issues confronting the people of the area. The title of January seminar was “Extension of the Political Parties Act: Prospects and Challenges. The seminar was attended by 25 participants. The invitees included various political leaders, civil society representatives, political analysts, journalists, academicians and students. The purpose of the seminar was to promote better understanding of this complex issue and conditions in which extension of political parties act could produce greatest benefits for the people of the troubled area.
The seminar comes at a time of increased attention to FATA in its role in the war on terror and political activism for upcoming general elections expected to be held in the coming twelve months.
A recent report by Amnesty International (AI) has also declared FATA as a human rights free zone.
Until the introduction of adult franchise in 1996, Maliks (the privileged tribal heads) selected representatives to National Assembly. In 1997 polls, for the first time FATA legislators were directly elected to the National Assembly on non-party basis. Former President General (Rtd) Pervaiz Musharraf amended the Political Parties Order (PPO) (1962) as the PPO (2002), but excluded FATA. MNAs hailing from FATA are perceived to exercise little authority in the parliament and cannot legislate on the tribal areas. Historically, development initiatives and allocations in FATA benefited influential and politically active sections only. As a result a large segment of the population was deprived from social uplift and economic empowerment.
On August 12, 2011, President Asif Ali Zardari announced a FATA Reforms package by extending the PPO (2002) to FATA, thus lifting restrictions on political activities. Political parties can now enter into FATA and sell their social and political agenda to the people of tribal areas.
The seminar generated heated debates on the issue, successfully paved the way for understanding the larger picture in which the prospects and challenges posed by the extension of the act could be identified
Seminar Report (Extension of Political Parties Act: Prospects …)
About the author
