Pakistan MP: $750mn of aid has not reached tribal areas

A MEMBER of parliament from Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas has claimed that the $750mn that was earmarked for development in FATA by the US Agency for International Development earlier in the year has not reached the area and instead was “usurped by the president and his functionaries”.

“This is in addition to $1bn the federal government pledged for a sustainable development package that was earlier announced but never reached us,” Munir Khan Orakzai, member of Pakistan’s National Assembly from the Kurram Agency, said yesterday.

He said he had brought this to the notice of US ambassador to Pakistan Anne W Peterson in June after she gave a presentation on the programme and its aims.

President Pervez Musharraf has dismissed the allegations of misappropriation as rubbish, saying that pocketing foreign aid by an individual was not possible because it was utilised under a system.

However, according to Orakzai, “not one penny has been seen spent in the area which is abundantly rich in mineral resources but lacks infrastructure and education.”

Kurram Agency, along with Bajaur, Khyber, Orakzai, and South and North Waziristan, makes up the tribal belt. Bordering Afghanistan, the 27,220sq km area has an estimated 5.5mn inhabitants.

“Only 3% of FATA has electricity; unemployment is at the highest and the area has remained backward,” said Orakzai.

The situation in the tribal areas has been worsening with both the US and Afghanistan accusing Pakistan’s government of allowing safe havens for terrorists and not doing enough to curb militants.

Just yesterday, Orakzai came to know that more than 22 people had died in Kurram Agency as two local tribes, Tori and Bangash, clashed.

“In Kurram Agency at least, it all started on November 16, when two men opened fire on a group of Sunnis who were coming out of a mosque after the Friday prayer. Within 30 minutes a fight broke out between Shias and Sunnis. The whole incident had the footprint of an international intelligence agency all over it,” Orakzai said.

“At times we can’t even go to our own constituencies. Chaos is being created in other neighbouring areas on similar lines too.”

He suggested the creation of a grand jirga (assembly) consisting of all regional political forces to try and bring lasting peace and stability to the area.

“As the parliamentary leader of FATA in the parliament, I have been suggesting to regional parties such as Jamat-e-Islami, Awami National Party, Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam and Pakistan Muslim League (N), to sit down with tribal elders from all the agencies and chalk out a peace plan once and for all,” Orakzai said. “Sincerity is the key, however.”