Talk:Federally Administered Tribal Areas

Changed infobox
One infobox per province is pointless, so I've added a new generic one for all provinces and territories. Green Giant 00:27, 2 February 2006 (UTC)

why is there mention of Taliban and AQ in this article?? everything does not revolve around this bloody war on terror. This article is for information on the geography and culture of the region.

what about F.R. Kala Dhaka?
Between Mansehra District and Shangla/Buner Districts is F.R. Kala Dhaka - this is how it is listed on numerous maps. It's known as a tribal area and indeed there is no civilian government or army presence there. So is it also officially a tribal area? It is not listed as an Agency or among the other F.R. listed in the article. 203.82.49.97 07:08, 19 March 2007 (UTC)Chance

History
This unusually lengthy history section contains lots of reference numbers ([29], [30]...) without showing the source. I suspect it's a copy and paste from a book or an article. 24.8.141.185 17:17, 21 March 2007 (UTC)

Cleanup
I've just performed a substantial cleanup of this article, though there is more to be done. Why are there so many quotes without a single reference to where they come from? If these are not correctly footnoted to a published reliable source, they should be removed. I am also very concerned about the neutrality of the section on the extension of the adult franchise to the FATA. Clearly this is an important issue; however, it is very important that this article is written in a neutral, encyclopedic style, and does not push a particular agenda. This section needs to be rewritten and appropriately footnoted. -- TinaSparkle 11:02, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
 * I appreciate your work on the article. I wish I was an expert on the subject to help you. Great work anyway. --Webkami 15:25, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

TinaSpark, the section the neutrality of which you have marked as disputed ironically seems to be the most accurate description of the FATA situation. The rest of the article can only be termed scrap written to further Pakistani Govt propaganda with reagrd to FATA.FatehM 19:08, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

FATA
Here is a useful source about the situations and problems of FATA. Hope someone will incorporate information from this into the article.

http://khyberwatch.com/nandara/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogsection&id=9&Itemid=83&limit=9&limitstart=36

Another article is:

http://www.pakistanlink.com/Opinion/2005/Jan05/14/11.htm

http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/pakistan/gelber2dec1962.jpg

—Preceding unsigned comment added by FatehM (talk • contribs) 22:08, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

Governance
Table in the Governance section says FATA population in 1998 was c. 3.17 million. Source is not indicated. BBC report citing government sources states that population that year was 5.8 million: news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1711316.stm. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kanbrain (talk • contribs) 23:25, 31 March 2008 (UTC)

Vocab problems

 * Each FR is headed by the DC/DCO (for FR Peshawar, DC/DCO Peshawar and so on). Under his supervision there is one Assistant Political Agent and about 1 or 2 Tehsildars and Naib Tehsildars, as well as support staff. Each Agency has roughly 2 to 3 thousand Khasadars and levies and 5 to 9 Wings of FC for maintenance of law and order in the Agency and borders security.

What do DC/DCO, Khasadar, Wing, and FC mean? -- Beland (talk) 22:03, 1 May 2008 (UTC)


 * DC= (Not sure but District...something)
 * FC= Frontier Corps
 * Khasadar= Khasadar Force (a paramilitary force)

Sorry, best I could do. --→ Ãlways Ãhëad (talk) 03:16, 6 May 2008 (UTC)

USAID / Pakistan says "DCO" means "District Coordination Officer". Perhaps "DC" is "District Coordinator" and is used synonymously with DCO? I am unable to provide a specific citation, but I did find this one that links DCO to the above definition: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_coordination_officer  —Preceding unsigned comment added by MarylandBoy (talk • contribs) 01:37, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

Economy
The Economy section says a lot right now about what's not happening, but what economic activity is going on there now? -- Beland (talk) 22:33, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

I used to live in Nepal, another pass state (yes, I know, I know, technically FATA is not a pass state, but it can possibly be looked at as one....) with a large underground smuggling sector and terribly inaccurate economic documentation. I suggest someone familiar with the region try to model the economy roughly in dollar or rupee terms, and also draw a map showing the agricultural and pastoral areas and smuggling routes. The problem is that this approach is probably original research.

My feeling is that the political agents for each area in FATA (the Pakistani representatives on the ground there) ought to be contactable and should have considerable information, as should some branch of the Pakistani government, though I don't know which branch that is. Various foreign aid agencies may also be knowledgeable.

Finally, in Kathmandu there are a number of institutes for the study of development of mountainous regions. Years ago one of these was sponsored by the Swiss, and if anyone can find it (it might have the acromym ICIMOD) they are likely to have considerable usable information of comparative nature.

I haven't been in FATA (and then only very briefly) since 1975, but my fleeting impression at the time was that drug-related agriculture and smuggling (charas or hashish, for which there was, to all appearances, a large local market in Pakistan, and opium and its products), smuggling of consumer goods nominally being shipped from the Afghanistan section of the port of Karachi to Afghanistan under seal, but dropped off in FATA or just across the Afghan border and brought back to Pakistan for sale (Scotch whisky, foreign made refrigerators, etc.), minor repair and manufactures (locally manufactured or repaired guns -is Dera the main centre of this?-, vehicle parts, etc.), legitimate transport and entrepot trade in Afghan goods (rough lapis lazuli, old Central Asian crafts and antique European guns for resale to foreigners in Pakistan proper), legal agriculture (dried fruit and fresh fruit, pastoral products, other agricultural output), and a transport sector were the main economic activities. Perhaps little has changed except that there is currently a larger population of residents from the region living elsewhere, so remittances are doubtless a significant proportion of local income. Some of these remittances are merely legal labor wages or business profits, while others may reflect profits from extension of aspects of the in-region underground economy into outside areas (brokers for illegal products and services, traditional banking arrangements through which payments can be made by hundi, etc.)-- to wit, a sort of "overseas branch offices" of FATA's quasi-legal or illegal businesses. With foreign involvement in the Afghan and local war, military contracts of sundry sorts (supplies, guides, etc.) may also have increased to a level that is significant in the local economy.

Like Nepal, despite the torrid summer climate in places, the region theoretically has tourism potential, but current conditions...er....make it difficult to develop this, even if the residents are interested, which they may not be.

Just one last point-- in mountainous regions where there are no motorable roads connecting remote farms to markets (towns and cities), non-mobile farm produce for sale has to be backpacked out (Nepal formerly was a perfect example of this), making economic development difficult since most farm products are relatively cheap and heavy, and backpacking is a costly form of transport per kilogram-kilometer, even in the poorest countries. This tends to make farmers concentrate on whatever light, high value, small volume products they can find to earn cash. Drugs (legal and illegal), dried fruits, cheese, distillates (spirits and perfume ingredients), dried meat, and crafts made from farm produce (handspun, hand-woven lambswool blankets, etc., etc.) or local raw materials are commonly used potential solutions to the transport problem. Developing high value craft products or higher value-added concentrated agricultural products(hard under current, hopefully transient, violent conditions) is another, made easier and easier with the Internet's ubiquity. It incidentally may provide entrepreneurial and work opportunities to women if desired, though it may not be as they are often very busy already, to a degree little understood in the West, with childcare and homemaking for larger families. Building roads to allow transport of cheaper and heavier farm produce to markets (which may have been done in the region since I was there) is another solution; one possible reason for concentration on raising goats and other larger animals is that they can be walked under their own power to the market (if one is not routinely robbed on the way), though they lose weight and value in the process. Development of training and education to enhance the "remittance value" obtained from legitimate labor migration (all those Filipina nurses in the USA, for example) is yet another route, though not an ideal one. If poverty is what is driving the politics of the region, the problem is theoretically remediable with outside input from potential market regions, but only with the sensible support for the strategy and participation of locals, something easily subject to interruption by political entrepreneurs acting in narrow interests, or general rejection of the idea. These vulnerabilities are severe and hard to overcome where conditions are tumultuous or otherwise adverse, making the approach much less promising than it first appears.--FurnaldHall (talk) 16:51, 9 October 2009 (UTC)

War in FATA
There is no mention of the war going on in FATA areas, as well as the PATA (Swat, etc). The US and Pakistani forces have been active in the tribal areas. The Pakistan army which normally manages the roads and peace among the tribes off the roads has been bombing the areas intensely recently, but since the last several years, when militancy had flared. Reports in Bajaur are of 250,000 - 700,000 internally displaced people. The US forces recently (September 03, 2008) landed in helicopters and hit a truck drivers homestead killing between 6-20 people in Angoor Adda (lit. Grape Stop)in Waziristan causing much consternation in the Pakistani Army, government and civil society. The US seems to have backtracked for the moment amid intense military (Mullen) and civil diplomacy (Boucher, Gates). NATO forces in Afghanistan have dissociated themselves from such an approach which involves foreign troops operating inside Pakistani territory. The newly elected Pakistani government (President Zardari) is under pressure internally to stand up to the US and move diplomatically. The argument here is that as a result of the 'War on Terror' - not seen in Pakistan universally as 'our' war - militants have broken away from the self-regulating tribal systems, and as a result of being radicalized and with cooperation from elements across the border and other foreigners have created havoc in the regions after killing many of the 'maliks' the tribal leaders who challenged them. their radicalization, it is argued, is the direct result of the American-NATO military intervention in Afghanistan and the region. The military approach has spelt 'disaster' with war throughout FATA and other territories such as Swat. A different approach is needed, said the NATO commander Joop de Scheffer. similar voces are sounding throughout Pakistan. Whether the drones (carrying as much arsenal as F-16s) being used to bomb targets will continue to routinely bomb the FATA tribal areas at will, given the leeway soldiers have taken with civilians in a foreign location such as iraq or afghanistan, remains to be seen.

Pakistanis fire at US forces http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7396366.stm

Dislaced people http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7582576.stm

the attack at Angoor Adda http://thenews.jang.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=17008

The point of all of this is that recent update - covering the last 2 decades - are needed here.

Its also interesting to note the definition of tribal areas. This is defined very specificlly in the Constitution of Pakistan. http://www.pakistani.org/pakistan/constitution/part12.ch3.html

--Ibn-arabi (talk) 21:40, 19 September 2008 (UTC)

Who says the Taliban controls FATA?
"The region is only nominally controlled by the central government of Pakistan. In reality it is practically entirely controlled by the Pashtons, the region is controlled by tribal elders and not external taliban insurgents." I've removed that bit about the Taliban. It's unsourced. It smells like OR. It's begging the question. 150.203.35.113 (talk) 05:55, 27 October 2008 (UTC)


 * It was sourced, but this edit removed the citation. I have reinstated the cite with a complete quote. I also tagged the section with Article issues. 84user (talk) 23:18, 11 May 2009 (UTC)

Personal Thoughts
The Government of Pakistan should renamed Federally Administered Tribal Areas as Fatally Administered Terrible Areas (FATA). Because, if it is seen, the action on War of Terror can be seen more on FATA instead of Afghanistan. In past couple years, Pakistan military has engaged in bloody, fierce, and intensified fighting against Pakistani Talibans. It is the center of conflict; in FATA, Pakistani forces and talibans has lost more men than they have in Afghanistan. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.49.198.147 (talk) 08:19, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

Copyright problems
I have added Federally Administered Tribal Areas to Copyright problems/2009 May 11 with this edit. 84user (talk) 00:38, 12 May 2009 (UTC)


 * I found a large copyvio (mixed with suspected copyvio, source as yet unknown) took place on 13:17, March 21, 2007 with this edit. 84user (talk) 00:53, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

Copyright problem removed
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Dubious status
Here we say the 7 frontier areas are part of FATA, but in the Xaiber Paxtunxwa article we say they're part of that. ?? — kwami (talk) 11:28, 10 December 2010 (UTC)

Qeaud-eazam is first goverment of muslim leage — Preceding unsigned comment added by 39.47.194.187 (talk) 08:57, 11 March 2012 (UTC)

Links
][http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/03/pakistan-fata-lawless-no-more-2014321111550828897.html >> Pakistan's FATA: Lawless no more? ](Lihaas (talk) 15:08, 22 March 2014 (UTC)).

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FATA-KP merger
Since many edits are being made regarding the FATA-KP merger, it should be noted that while the amendment has been passed in the National Assembly and the Senate, it still needs to pass in the KP Assembly and assented to by the president before the merger actually occurs. Please wait until this has happened before referring to FATA as a former administrative division or as disestablished.Avg W (talk) 18:30, 26 May 2018 (UTC)


 * Note - as far as I can tell, the 31st amendment has still not been signed by the president. This article published today specifically states the president has yet to sign it https://dailytimes.com.pk/246106/for-fata-residents-the-good-news-may-be-short-lived/ Avg W (talk) 11:53, 29 May 2018 (UTC)

This says that today Mamnoon signed the amendment. Can we change it to a former administrative unit now? Masterpha (talk) 10:29, 31 May 2018 (UTC)
 * Now that there is a source saying so, yes Avg W (talk) 02:37, 2 June 2018 (UTC)

Capital city
Some sources and atlases list the former region as having no capital (being governed from Islamabad) while a few list Miramshah as the capital. Was Miramshah in anyway a capital of the bygone region? Did Miramshah have limited regional governance over the region while most important government seats were in Islamabad? This makes me confused. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Otis the Texan (talk • contribs) 02:31, 3 March 2019 (UTC)
 * There was no capital. Each of the 7 tribal "agencies" (now districts) have their own capital. Khestwol (talk) 02:35, 3 March 2019 (UTC)