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Introduction
Pakistan has been engaged in fighting resurgent terrorists and militants for more than a decade. Over these years, some specific anti-terrorism and counter-militancy operations have been vigorously conducted in the terror-infested tribal areas. During and/or after these operations, particular peace accords between the government and terrorists were also signed in order to bring about and ensure lasting peace in the region. Despite these peace agreements, the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other outlawed assorted terrorist and militant groups blatantly kept targeting religious, educational institutions, army installations, airports and residents. At that critical juncture, the most shocking terrorist attack was conducted by the TTP on the Army Public School in Peshawar on 16 December 2014 killing 145 people, including 132 school children aged between eight and eighteen years.
At that critical moment, both the civilian and military leadership agreed to vigorously conduct a counter-terrorism and counter-militancy operation codenamed as Zarb-e-Azb aimed at permanently flushing out the outlawed TTP.
According to the reports released by the ISPR during the course of Zarb-e-Azb, the operation has successfully achieved its main objective by rooting out the hideouts and training centers of the TTP in the terror-ravaged tribal areas. According to the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS), "prior to the operation militant attacks had peaked to 154 a month in Pakistan, but this count has now dropped more than 50% to 71 attacks a month." In this post, I argue that in order to maintain this reduction in terrorism, fanaticism, militancy and extremism, the civilian government should come forward and craft needed policies aimed at empowering the tribal people politically, economically and educationally.
It is time for the civilian government to come forward and seriously discharge its constitutional duties. Arguably, FATA desperately needs political, administrative and socio-economic reforms so that the long-neglected tribal people would avoid joining terrorist and militants groups. If these needed reforms are not introduced prudently, the area would be the breeding ground of hardened terrorists and militants to regroup and resurface, thus challenging the writ of the state. The article provides a bird's eye view of the long-lasting political, administrative, economic, educational and constitutional issues of FATA. The piece also provides a pragmatic way forward to bring FATA at par with the rest...