Islamabad/Brussels, 15 January 2013: To overcome the security challenges and curb
extremism in Pakistan’s Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA), its
national and provincial leaderships should reclaim the political space ceded to
the military.
Pakistan: Countering Militancy
in PATA, International Crisis Group’s latest report, assesses
the impact of the military-led response to extremist violence on PATA’s
security, society and economy. More than three years after military operations
sought to oust Islamist extremists, the region remains extremely volatile.
The
military’s continued control over the governance and administration of the
region and the state’s failure to equip the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) police
with the tools they need to tackle extremist violence lies at the heart of
security and governance challenges.
“While
the militants continue to present the main physical threat, the military’s
poorly conceived counter-insurgency strategies and failure to restore
responsive and accountable civilian administration are proving
counter-productive”, says Samina Ahmed, Crisis Group’s South Asia Project
Director. “Neither the federal nor the provincial government is fully
addressing the security concerns of residents”.
Although
some serious efforts have been made to enhance police capacity, they remain
largely insufficient, and the KPK force is still not properly trained or
equipped and lacks accountability. The larger challenge remains the reform of
the region’s complex legal framework, which makes upholding the rule of law a
daunting task.
While
formally subject to Pakistan’s basic criminal and civil law and falling under
the provincial KPK legislature, PATA is governed by various parallel legal
systems that have isolated it from the rest of the province. Instead of
reforming a legal system that undermines constitutional rights and the rule of
law, the military has been vested with virtually unchecked powers of arrest and
detention. Pressing humanitarian needs remain unmet because of continued
instability and short-sighted military-dictated policies that include travel
restrictions on foreigners and stringent requirements for domestic and
international non-governmental organisations.
Islamabad
and Peshawar should end PATA’s isolation and fully integrate it into KPK,
removing the region’s legislative and constitutional ambiguities and revoking
all laws that undermine constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights. The
military’s control over the security agenda, governance and security must be
replaced by accountable, responsive civilian institutions. A deteriorating
justice system needs to be strengthened and the police force given the lead in
enforcing the law and bringing extremists to justice.
“The state
must restore the trust of PATA residents by convincing them of its sincerity,
effectiveness and accountability”, says Paul Quinn-Judge, Crisis Group’s Asia
Program Director. “Helping them to rebuild their lives and livelihoods, free of
the fear of militancy, would go a long way toward inoculating them against
extremism and should be at the heart of counter-terrorism strategy”.
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