By Muhammad Tahir
ISLAMABAD, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan has introduced a draft of proposed reforms to be discussed in parliament to bring the insurgency-hit tribal regions into the national mainstream.
The seven Federally Administered Tribal Areas or FATA, inhabited by nearly 5 million people, are currently governed directly by the federal government through a governor and the reforms, in part, propose integrating the FATA into the adjacent northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province.
Such reforms, observers have said, are long overdue as the tribal regions have been plagued by insurgency for years with the state having little control over large swathes of its territory. Dozens of Pakistani international militant groups have hideouts in the lawless areas and have been challenging the law of the state and endangering national and international security.
People in the tribal areas, who have been upset at the region's reputation as being synonymous with terrorism, backed the government's plan to introduce the reforms when the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had formed a high level committee in November last year to suggest reforms.
Insurgent groups in the tribal regions began to mushroom after militants in Afghanistan started crossing the border into Pakistani tribal regions in the wake of the U.S. military action against the Afghan Taliban in late 2001. The fleeing militants took advantage of the loose border control and the absence of the Pakistani forces along the border with Afghanistan at that time.
As there had been no significant troops deployment in the tribal areas, the militants strengthened their strongholds and essentially took control of the regions, with the local administrations powerless to exert any authority.
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