Mainstreaming FATA.

Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa will retire on November 29, this year. During his tenure, Gen. Bajwa brought many positive changes in various provinces of the country. But, his herculean role in mainstreaming the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) is praiseworthy. During his visit to South Waziristan on February 12, 2017, Gen. Bajwa lauded the troops' bravery which enabled the re: establishment of the state's writ in the tribal belt. He also appreciated the resolve of tribal brethren for supporting the Army's effort. Owing to Army Chief Gen. Bajwa's efforts, the Assembly of the Khyber: Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province passed a resolution on December 15, 2016, in favour of merging FATA into KP. In a historic move, the National Assembly on May 24, 2018, with a two: thirds majority voted in favour of a constitutional amendment to merge the FATA with the KP. Two allies of the ruling party, the Jamiat Ulema: e: Islam: Fazl and the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party opposed the bill. The bill also amended Article 246 of the Constitution according to which areas of Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA) are to be merged in Balochistan and KP.

The polling was held for the elections of the KP Assembly in the merged tribal districts of FATA on July 20, 2019. Almost all the mainstream political parties, including independent candidates, participated in the elections, while voter turnout remained decent. In this context, spokesperson of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Nadeem Qasim appreciated Army's role in making a peaceful election happen. Earlier, the government planned to spend Rs100 billion annually on the development of the erstwhile FATA-the uplift of the local population to bring them at par with the citizens of the other areas of the country and to remove their sense of deprivation. During Gen. Bajwa's term, continuing military operation the Zarb: e: Azb, in February 2017, the Pakistan Army launched 'Operation Radd: ul: Fasaad aimed at indiscriminately eliminating the residual/latent threat of terrorism, and further ensuring Pakistan's border security.

The tribal regions remained troubled for over a decade due to the US: led so: called war on terror. Nevertheless, under Gen. Bajwa's command, through military operations, Pakistan's Armed Forces and especially Army have successfully broken the backbone of the foreign: backed terrorists, while the country's primary intelligence agency ISI has broken the network of these...