The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) law and order
secretary Shakeel Qadir
while briefing the Senate
Standing Committee on
States and Frontier Regions
(SAFRON) on July 11 said
that there was an urgent
need to launch an operation
against terrorists in
North Waziristan Agency
(NWA) as they were getting
hold of the area and government
was losing its writ day
by day, according to Daily
Times. He said that
Security Forces were engaged
in operation against terrorists
in Upper Orakzai while
situation was under control
in Lower Orakzai area.
The secretary said that
there was lack of trust
between tribals and government.
He said that until now
government had failed
to identify the source
of funding in order to
stop it.
The committee members were further told that government succeeded
in maintaining its writ
in Bajaur and Mohmand
agencies and the terrorists
were pushed back into
Afghanistan. He told the
committee the terrorists
were organising attacks
from across the border
from Afghanistan into
Pakistan. The committee
was told of the instability
in Bara and upper regions,
which was also affecting
provincial capital Peshawar
as well.
The SAFRON committee members headed by Senator Muhammad Saleh
Shah expressed its deep
concern over the report
of presence of over 20,000
terrorists in NWA getting
uninterrupted supply of
weapons to create law
and order situation in
the area. The committee
chairman was of the view
that terrorism and militancy
in FATA have affected
the whole area and its
residents badly and government
needs to draw an effective
full-fledged strategy
to root out terrorism
from the area. He said
that people of FATA need
better job opportunities
and healthy lifestyle.
He said that health and
education were important
to normalise the nature
and situation of the area.
The committee was told that there were total 120,467 displaced
people in Pakistan who
need permanent shelter
facilities. About the
presence of Afghan refugees
in Pakistan the committee
was told that there were
over three million Afghan
refugees in Pakistan out
of which two million were
registered and one million
were unregistered. SAFRON
secretary told the committee
that until December 31
Afghan refugees could
stay in Pakistan after
which they had to go to
their own country. He
said that unfortunately
Afghan government was
not taking interest in
taking its nationals back.
The committee decided
to take briefing on each
sector in FATA in order
to determine the progress
and development work in
the area. Online | 
