ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) Lt Gen (r) Abdul Qadir Baloch on Monday told a legislative body that the appointment of political agents (PAs) and assistant political agents (APAs) in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) were made after consultation with the armed forces.
The written criteria for appointment on these posts are different from the ground realities, he told members of the Senate Standing Committee on SAFRON, who held a meeting at the Parliament House with Senator Hilalur Rehman in the chair. The members expressed serious reservations over the recent appointment of the PA and the APA in the tribal areas. They claimed that even the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government was unaware of the transfer of officials on these posts. The minister said some matters of national interest had to be kept in mind before appointment of government employees on these posts, therefore several state institutions needed to be taken on board. The committee also expressed serious reservations over the process of making Computerised National Identity Cards (CNICs) of people in FATA. Senators from the tribal regions told the committee that people there were facing multiple problems in getting their CNICs made, adding that their identity cards were usually blocked, suspecting that they were aliens. The members were informed that a FATA businessman namely Janat Gul’s CNIC was blocked 10 years ago, and had not been unblocked since then. Senator Hidayatullah told the committee that Janat was an importer of auto spare parts, and had travelled to Japan some 10 years ago, but when his CNIC expired and he went for renewal, his number was blocked. Despite hectic efforts, he failed to get his CNIC renewed, which adversely affected not only his business but also his life, the senator said. The committee was informed that if any aliens were found in the family tree of any tribal person, the CNIC of the entire family was blocked. The senator said that he was ready to vouch for Janat Gul, and had tried to intercede with NADRA officials on the applicant’s behalf, but the authorities simply refused to accommodate him. He said that several tribesmen faced a somewhat similar situation, as their CNICs were blocked for one reason or the other. There was no proper mechanism for addressing this issue, he said. The FATA senators also complained about several issues confronting tribesmen in getting the Child Registration Certificates (CRC) or Form-B of their children. Earlier, the NADRA chairman informed the committee that 14 NADRA offices and two mobiles were operational in FATA for the registration of people. He also claimed that the department recently hired some local ladies who would only register women in the tribal belt. Meanwhile, supporting FATA senators’ point of view, the SAFRON minister said it was a serious issue and needed special attention, claiming that there were some faults in the system. He said that when Afghan refugees came to Pakistan, some local tribesmen showed them as members of their families and got their CNICs made with the connivance of some departmental officials. He asked NADRA to check the system and address the issue as early as possible. He said that NADRA needed extra efforts to address problems of the people in FATA with regard to issuance of CNICs. The minister claimed that some local people also declared themselves Afghan refugees just to get ration and other facilities for their “return” to Afghanistan. He said that when such people come back to Pakistan, their CNIC were blocked and they were considered aliens. The committee recommended NADRA to take the CNIC issue as a challenge and make some changes to the system to facilitate the local population.
