FATA: Voice of the Unheard

Adjacent to Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkwa Province, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan is a region that has always captured the attention of the international community. A direct legacy of the British Empire, even after the creation of Pakistan in 1947, all successive governments in independent Pakistan have followed in the footsteps of their predecessors by exercising the archaic British model of administration and retaining the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) 1901. Despite 64 years of independence, the people of FATA have been subjected to outdated laws that deny them the same democratic political system, fundamental human rights, and economic opportunities prevailing in the rest of Pakistan. As aconsequence of prolonged neglect and isolation from the State, rampant poverty and dismally low literacy rates define the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). And with the inability of the government to acknowledge it as a significant and integral part of Pakistan that needs to be integrated, the tribal region has over a period of time, fallen into the hands of extremist groups.