Poor policies, badly conducted military operation behind militancy

KARACHI - Badly planned governmental policies after independence and the currently poorly conducted military operation are responsible for the rise of militancy in the tribal belt which has resulted in loss of life and property and displacement of thousands of civilians. All these factors have contributed into alienation of the population of FATA and Tribal areas, said senior politician Barrister Fatehyab Ali Khan, President Pakistan Mazdoor Kissan Party, in an interview with The Nation.

He said there were no two opinions what made conditions politically and military uncontrollable in FATA but the current volatile situation in the tribal areas of Pakistan was a direct spill over of the so-called war against terror waged in Afghanistan by Bush led US administration.

After independence FATA and other tribal territories had remained trouble free and there was hardly any political problem that reached the national proportion. All problems were localised and were tribal or inter clan in which lives were lost but all these problems were solved and settled by the tribal jirga at local level.

However, after Afghan Jihad of 1979 and subsequent 9/11 disaster in the USA has brought FATA into international focus a territory which is extremely poor , illiterate and has no permanent means of subsistence.