Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA)

Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA)

The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) is a semi-autonomous tribal region in northwestern Pakistan, consisting of seven tribal agencies (districts) Khyber Agency, Mohmand Agency, Kurram agency, Bajaur Agency, Orakzai Agency, North Waziristan agency and South Waziristan Agency. and six frontier regions (FRs) FR Kohat, FR Peshawar, FR Bannu, FR Lakki, FR Tank and FR D.I.Khan. FATA directly governed by Pakistan's federal government through a special set of laws called the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR).

History:

The region was won from the Sikh Empire (which had annexed it during Ranjit Singh's rule) in the 19th century during the British colonial period. Although the British never succeeded in completely calming unrest in the region. it served as a buffer from unrest in Afghanistan. The British Raj attempted to control the population of the annexed tribal regions with the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR), which gave considerable power to govern to local nobles so long as these nobles were willing to meet the needs of the British. Due to the nobles placing unchecked discretionary power into the hands of the Jirga, resulting in extensive human rights violations, the FCR has come to be known as the "black law."

Geographical location:

FATA borders Pakistan's provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) and Balochistan to the east and south, and Afghanistan's provinces of Kunar, Nangarhar, Paktia, Khost and Paktika to the west and north. The territory is almost exclusively inhabited by the Pashtun, who also live in the neighbouring provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Northern Balochistan; they are largely Muslims. The main towns of the territory are Parachinar, Miramshah, Razmak, Wanna, Jamrud, and Landi Kotal.

On March 2, 2017 the federal government approved the recommendations of the FATA reforms committee, which included the merger of the tribal areas with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and repeal of the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) The process is expected to take five years to complete, concluding by 2022.

Administration and Constitutional Status:

The Constitution of Pakistan governs the FATA through the same rules which were framed by the British in 1901 as Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR). The Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and High Court of Pakistan does not extend to FATA and Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA), according to Article 247 and Article 248, of existing 1973 Constitution of Pakistan. The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Assembly has no power in FATA, and can exercise its powers in PATA only for that which is part of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. FATA is ruled by a political agent who is a Godfather​ of the whole agency and can do whatever he wants due to a draconian law known as FCR. Each Agencies of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas is administered by a Political Agent (PA), assisted by a number of Assistant Political Agents (APA), Tehsildars(administrative head of a tehsil) and Naib Tehsildars (deputy tehsildar).

Judicial System:

All civil and criminal cases in FATA are decided under the Frontier Crimes Regulation 1901 by a Jirga (council of elders). Residents of tribal areas may, however, approach the courts (Supreme Court of Pakistan and Peshawar High Court) with a constitutional writ challenging a decision issued under the 1901 Regulation

Area and Population:

Total area of FATA is estimated around 27,220 km²  and The total population of FATA was estimated in 2000 to be about 3,341,080 people, or roughly 2% of Pakistan's population. Only 3.1% of the population resides in established townships. It is thus the most rural administrative unit in Pakistan. According to 2011 estimates FATA gained 62.1% population over its 1998 figures, totaling up to 4,452,913. This is the fourth-highest increase in population of any province. According to the census in Pakistan, following is the Historical population of FATA: 

Historical Population

Year	Population	Incrase / (Decrease) P.A %
1951	1,332,005	—
1961	1,847,195	3.32%
1972	2,491,230	2.76%
1981	2,198,547	-1.38%
1998	2,746,490	1.32%
2017	5,001,676	3.21%

Subdivision and Tehsil:
The FATA Agencies are further divided into Subdivisions, and Tehsils. According to the Election Commission of Pakistan, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas consist of the following divisions:

S.No	Agency / FR	Subdivision	Tehsil
1	Khyber Agency	Jamrud	Jamrud
			Mulla Gori
		Landi Kotal	Landi Kotal
		Bara	Bara
2	Orakzai Agency	Lower Orakzai	Lower Orakzai
			Central Orakzai
		Upper Orakzai	Ismailzai
			Upper Orakzai
3	Kurram Agency	Lower Kurram	Lower Kurram / Alizai
		Central Kurram	Central Kurram/ Sadda
		Upper Kurram	Upper Kurram / Parachinar
4	Mohmand Agency	Lower Mohmand	Yekka Ghund
			Ambar
			Pandyalai
			Praang Ghaar
		Upper Mohmand	Safi / Lakaro
			Khwezai / Baezai
			Halimzai
5	Bajaur Agency	Khar	Khar
			Utman Khel
			Salarzai
		Nawagai	Nawagai
			Mamund
			Barang
			Chamarkand
6	North Waziristan Agency	Mir Ali	Mir Ali
			Speen Wam
			Shewa
		Miranshah	Miranshah
			Datta Khel
			Ghulam Khan
		Razmak	Razmak
			Dosalli
			Geriyum
			Shawal
7	South Waziristan Agency	Ladha	Ladha
			Makeen
			Sararogha
		Sarwakai	Sarwakai
			Tiaraza
		Wana	Wana
			Birmal
			Toi Khulla
Frontier Regions (FRs)
1	FR Kohat	FR Kohat	FR Kohat
2	FR Peshawar	FR Peshawar	FR Peshawar
3	FR Bannu – Mir Ali	FR Bannu –Mir Ali	FR Bannu – Mir Ali
4	FR Lakki Marwat	FR Lakki Marwat	FR Lakki Marwat
5	FR Tank – Jandola	FR Tank – Jandola	FR Tank – Jandola
6	FR Dera Ismail Khan	FR Dera Ismail Khan	FR Dera Ismail Khan

 

**************

Posted in: FATA