FEDERALLY ADMINISTERED TRIBAL AREAS (FATA) OF PAKISTAN: FROM GENESIS TO MERGER

Abstract

Constitutionally speaking, the FATA region has always been recognized as an integral part of the Pakistani federation. However, over the years, these areas stayed secluded from the national mainstream socio-economic, legal, and political spectrum. Consequently, the FATA region underwent extreme under development and has been facing serious governance issues. In order to reform and develop these areas, successive Pakistani governments have tried various development strategies and reform packages but those attempts did not bring any substantial improvements. In an attempt to deal with the multidimensional governance and law and order issues in the FATA region, the government of Pakistan has merged it in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province in 2018. This paper seeks to explore how the FATA region evolved from a lawless frontier to an administered polity and subsequently got merged in the KP. It begins by offering a brief history of FATA and the evolution of its administrative structure. It then discusses the successive Pakistani governments’ reform strategies vis-à-vis the tribal region. Finally, the paper critically analyses the FATA merger in the KP and explores its pros and cons.