Upcoming election will be a challenge in FATA


ISLAMABAD: Army is part of the problem, not solution; the security establishment should stop its involvement with militant groups. Free and fare election should be ensure, eleven mainstream political parties agreed on 40 recommendation for upcoming general election in FATA and Frontier regions.
FATA Committee includes all mainstream political Parties. Committee presented the following 40 recommendation to election commission of Pakistan.
01Political parties should be permitted to hold corner meetings without restrictions or advance notice. The requirement of asking permission or notifying the political agent for all meetings in advance is not realistic and puts political parties at risk of attack. Large public gatherings or rallies should be notified one week in advance.
02 Political parties must not “sell” tickets for MNA seats. The Election Commission should implement and enforce a ban on this anti-democratic activity.
03 Many maliks continue to sell the votes of their people for money. This practice should be prohibited by the Election Commission and any “vote buying” activities should be punishable by law, including the disqualification of candidates violating the regulation.
04 No political activity is taking place so far in the NA-42 constituency in South Waziristan. The government should take swift action to ensure that free and fair elections may take place in this constituency.
05 PEMRA jurisdictions should be extended to FATA. Access and security should also be provided to media so that they can enter FATA freely and better cover elections and political parties.
06 FATA elite should be stopped from working together with the State to prevent the free operation of political activity in FATA.
07 All voter registration forms submitted prior to the announcement of elections must be accepted and added to the voter list.1 MQM and PTI party leaders from the agencies and frontier regions could not attend due to scheduling conflicts. Their party leadership, however, did meet with the FATA Committee this week.
08 Public funds allocated to sitting MNAs must not be utilized for their election campaigns. The Election Commission must enforce a ban on the use of these funds for campaign purposes.
09 The 2011 Political Parties Order extension and Frontier Crimes Regulation amendments are not being implemented properly by the political administration and the security establishment. Implementation should be monitored and enforced by the government.
10 Political parties must be facilitated, provide free and open access and also necessary security to travel to and operate in FATA.
11 To ensure increased women’s participation in elections, women’s polling stations should be provided in all agencies and frontier regions.
12 Polling stations should be no more than two km from voters’ homes to increase political participation in FATA.
13 Security should be ensured at all polling stations.
14 FATA voters should have access to polling stations in their own village and not be forced to travel to another village to participate in elections.
15 The political parties Code of Conduct published by the Election Commission of Pakistan must apply to elections.
16 The ECP must monitor the free and fair administration of elections.
17 The ECP should make regulations specifically for free and fair elections.
18 Judicial officers should be deployed as returning officers in general elections.
19 The political agent should support the participation of all FATA society in political activity and the upcoming general elections.
20 All FATA Internal displace people (IDP) should be provided the right to vote in the location of their displacement, regardless if they are living in camps or in host communities.
21 IDPs from all frontier regions should be officially recognized by the government and also given the right to vote in the location of their displacement.
22 FATA should also be represented in the federal cabinet of the caretaker government set-up. 23 International observers should be given permission to monitor elections in FATA.
24 The political agent must not show favoritism toward any political party candidate or any independent candidate.
25 The governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa must not interfere in or influence elections .
26 All of these recommendations should be implemented and enforced immediately, prior to the day of general elections 2013.
27 Political parties should include FATA democracy and FATA reforms in their national party manifestoes for general elections.
28 Government, political parties, civil society and the international community should work together to educate FATA citizens about the political process.
29   Avoid biased reporting during elections; more private media should be given access and security in FATA.
30 The government and the Election Commission should investigate journalists who are blackmailing political agents and political parties.
31 National and international media should send their own independent journalists to FATA and ensure that they report accurately and in-depth on local problems.
32 The United Nations and other international organizations should make public statements about lack of human and political rights.
33 Further amendments to the Frontier Crimes Regulation are needed.
34 Reserved MNA seats for FATA women should be established, giving them the same special representation as in the rest of Pakistan.
35 The frontier regions constituency NA-47 is too large and too spread out for effective representation. The constituency should be divided on the basis of population.
36 Voter registration and CNIC is need of the hour. NADRA should deploy mobile registration vans as soon as possible.
37 Blocked CNICs of FATA citizens should be release with the approval of tribal elders.
38 Political agent appointments are always “for sale” in FATA and this practice must be stopped before election.
39 Political agents should expedite the issuance of birth, death, marriage and disability certificates to FATA citizens. These services are very poorly administered and must be improved.
40 The army is part of the problem, not part of the solution. The security establishment should stop its involvement with terrorist and militant organizations.
According to expert the implementations of all these recommendation is impossible for election commission of Pakistan.