By Shahid Shah

At times called the ‘wild west’ or ‘lawless tribal badlands’ of Pakistan along the Western border with Afghanistan, erstwhile tribal areas, had remained in the limelight for negative reasons in the past. Positive news started coming out when the region was merged with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province and constitutional provisions related to citizen’s rights and law of the land were extended. Since the time after independence, the tribal districts got different nomenclatures from time to time, however, its basic characteristics of being the ‘poorest badland’ and a safe destination for proclaimed offenders, hired assassins, car snatchers, and drug pushers remained the same. Post 9/11 this region imposed serious security challenges to Pakistan.

At the time of merger, 60% population lived below the poverty line in the tribal districts. For every 4,200 people there was only one healthcare facility and for every 7,800 people only one doctor. Whereas a total of 10 maternity hospitals, 76 BHUs, 170 civil dispensaries, 9 rural health centers and four medical centers had remained inactive in these districts. The adult literacy rate was only 28% which was way below the national average of 75%. The net primary school enrollment for children was 52.1% as compared to 65% in mainstream Pakistan.

Considering the deteriorating state of socio-economic development and restoration of peace in erstwhile FATA, Pakistan Army stepped up its efforts to ensure the socio-economic normalization of the cleared areas by speeding up health, education, and socio-economic development related projects at the priority. Pakistan Army successfully completed the construction of 619 educational institutes, including 5 cadet colleges, while, 269 institutes are still under construction. As far as health sector is concerned Army has completed 140 health centers, whereas, 70 are still under construction. Some other socio-economic development projects include Agri Park Wana, Gomal Zam & Kurrum Tangi Dams, building Police infrastructure, renovation / rehabilitation of 153 mosques, construction of 97 markets, 63 children parks and 15 sports grounds. The development of communication infrastructure includes building of 980 kms of roads while, 360 kms is still under construction. 95% TDPs have returned with over Rs 80 Billion distributed among them as a compensation against damages and economic assistance.

Pakistan Army through concerted efforts has enabled a secure environment to supervise and execute a number of construction projects in the Newly Merged Districts (NMDs). Re-construction Projects consist of 72 projects worth Rs 26.6 Billion which have been completed; 32 projects worth Rs 28.9 Billion still in progress. Immediate Rehabilitation Projects containing 1799 projects worth Rs 14 Billion have been completed, 815 projects worth Rs 7 Billion are in progress whereas 686 projects worth Rs 5 Billion are being planned.

Foreign Funded Projects include 132 Projects worth Rs 18 Billion funded by UPAP, 14 projects worth Rs 52 Billion funded by USAID and 47 projects worth Rs 2.7 Billion funded by KSA are being executed under Pak Army’s supervision.

The security forces of Pakistan are actively engaged in the development activities in inaccessible areas of newly merged districts. Scores of projects in infrastructure, communication, and rehabilitation have been completed by the security forces. The Armed Forces are committed to work for the progress and development of NMDs with full commitment and devotion. However, it is high time that Federal government completes the pending administrative processes and long pending development and economic projects to fully capitalise the merger dividends that were planned to be accrued at the time of announcing the merger.