A PRIMER ON PAKISTAN'S FEDERALLY ADMINISTERED

1. Summary. This cable is intended to serve as a basic primer
on Pakistan,s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).
The seven tribal agencies that make up the FATA are
administratively, legally, and politically distinct from the
rest of Pakistan. This primer focuses on these unique
features of FATA, beginning with an updated snapshot of each
Agency. Subsequent reporting in this series (septel) will
feature in-depth looks at the political, military and
development challenges and opportunities in this region. End
Summary.

A SNAPSHOT OF EACH AGENCY


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BAJAUR


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Area: 1553 square kilometers
Approximate Population (2005 est): 597,000
Major tribes: Tarklani, Utman Khel, Safi
Sub-tribes: Tarklani: Mamunds, Isozai, Ismailzai
Utman Khel: Umar Khel, Asil Barang Khel, Gar Shamozai
Federal Level Representation: 2 MNAs
Key Leaders: Fahim Khan Wazir (Political Agent), Lal Karim
(politically active businessman) Bismullah Khan (politically
active businessman), Maulvi Mohammed Sadiq (influential
religious leader, JUI-F politician), Maulana Khalilur Rehman
(influential religious leader, JUI-F politician), Sahibzada
Haroon Rasheed (JI activist and businessman)
Average Literacy Rate*: (1998): 30% (male) 3% (female)
Average Primary school enrollment* (2003): 68% (male) 12%
(female)
Economic potential: Emeralds, gypsum, small deposits of
marble.
Economic base: farming (potatoes, onions, tomatoes)
USAID Development Projects: school construction,
micro-credit, healthcare

* Agency-specific figures unavailable. Average for FATA used.

MOHMAND


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Area: 2,296 square kilometers
Approximate population (2005 est): 348,643
Major Tribe: Mohmand
Sub-tribes: Musakhel, Tarakzai, Safi, UtmanKhel, Halimzai,
Bhurhan Khel, Dawezai, Isa Khel
Federal level political Representation: 2 MNAs
Key Leaders: Dr. Jamal Nasir (Political Agent), Baroz Khan
(former Parliamentarian, wealthy businessman), Abdur Rehman
(former Parliamentarian, wealthy businessman)
Average Literacy Rate*: (1998): 30% (male) 3% (female)
Average Primary school enrollment* (2003): 68% (male) 12%
(female)
Economic potential: significant untapped marble deposits
USAID Development Projects: school construction, water and
sanitation, micro-credit, and healthcare

* Agency-specific figures unavailable. Average for FATA used.

KHYBER


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Area: 2,576 square kilometers
Approximate population (2005 est): 742,501
Major Tribes: Afridi, Mullagori, Shinwari, Shilmani
Sub tribes: Afridi: Qambar Khel, Malikdin Khel, Kuik
Khel,Aka Khel, Zakha Khel, Sepa Khel, Kamar Khel, Adam Khel
Shinwari: Ali Sher (in the Landi Kotal area)
Federal level political representation: 2 MNAs, 2 Senators
Key Leaders: Fida Khan Wazir (Political Agent), Hafiz Abdul
Malik Qadri & Noorul Haq Qadri (Religious leaders and

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parliamentarians), Latif Afridi (ANP politician influential
in Jamrud and Bajaur), Engineer Noor Alam Afridi (son of drug
baron Ayub Afridi, Hameedullah Jan Afridi (Senator)
Average Literacy Rate*: (1998): 30% (male) 3% (female)
Average Primary school enrollment* (2003): 68% (male) 12%
(female)
Ecomomic base: transit trade, smuggling, arms manufacturing
USAID Development Projects: school construction, teacher
education scholarships, water and sanitation, micro-credit
(underway), and healthcare

* Agency-specific figures unavailable. Average for FATA used.

ORAKZAI


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Area:
Population (2005 est): 276,792
Major Tribe: Orakzai
Sub-tribes: Orakzai tribes are divided on Sunni-Shia
sectarian lines. Three Tehsils--Upper Tehsil, Central Tehsil,
and IsmailZai Tehsil are Sunni. Lower Tehsil is a mix of
Sunni and Shia.
Federal Level political representation: 2 MNAs, 2 Senators
Key Leaders: Sher Alam Mehsud (Political Agent), Dr. Sayed
Ghazi Gulab Jamal (Federal Minister of Tourism, scion of a
military family), Said Munir Mian (influential in religious
circles), Syed Muhammad Hussain (Senator)
Literacy Rate: (1998): 19.6 (male) 1.28 (female)
Primary school Enrollment (2003): 58% (male) 13.6% (female)
Middle School Enrollement (2003): 14.2% (male) 1.6% (female)
Economic base: agriculture (fruit trees, rice, and barley)
USAID Projects: school construction, micro-credit, and
healthcare

KHURRAM


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Area: 1500 square kilometers
Population (2005 est): 545,415
Major Tribes: Chamkani, Masuzai, Alisherzai, Zaimukh, Turi,
and Bangash
Federal Level Political Representation: 2 MNAs, 2 Senators
Key Leaders: Salim Khan Mohmand (Political Agent), Haji Muni
Orakzai (popular politician and wealthy businessman), Syed
Sajjid Hussain Mia (popular Shia community leader with close
ties to Iran), Rashid Ahmed Khan (Senator)
Literacy Rate: (1998): 33% (male) 4.5% (female)
Primary school Enrollment (2003): 75% (male) 23% (female)
Middle School Enrollement (2003): 23.2% (male) 6% (female)
Economic base: rice, apple and grape orchards
USAID Projects: School construction (13 schools under
construction), micro-credit (underway), healthcare

North Waziristan


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Area: 4,707
Population (2005 est): 438,770
Major Tribes: Wazir, Daur
Sub tribe: Wazir: Utmanzai
Tribes by area: Wazir--primarily in Ramzak, Datta khel, and
Shawal
Daur--primarily in Miram Shah, Mir Ali, Edak,
Humaz, and Hasukhel
Federal Level Political Representation: 2 MNAs, 2 Senators
Key Leaders: Zaheerul Islam (Political Agent), Maulana
Deendar (MNA and very influential religious leader closely
associated with JUI-F), Maulvi Nek Zaman (MNA, influential
religious leader)
Average Literacy Rate*: (1998): 30% (male) 3% (female)
Average Primary school enrollment* (2003): 68% (male) 12%
(female)
Economic base: largely barren, economy is mostly
smuggling-based
USAID Projects: School construction (delayed due to
security), micro-credit, healthcare

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* Agency-specific figures unavailable. Average for FATA used.

South Waziristan


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Area: 6,220 square kilometers
Population (2005 est): 501,655
Major tribes: Wazir, Mahsud
Subtribe: Wazir: Ahmedzai,
Federal Level Political Representation: 2 MNAs, 0 Senators
Key Leaders: Munir Alam, (Political Agent), Alam Jan Mehsud
(retired General and father of the Orakzai Political Agent),
Maulana Noor Mohammed Wazir (JUI-F politician with reported
links to Taliban and Al Qaida), Muhammad Meraj-ud Din (JUI-F
politician with reported links to Taliban and Al Qaida),
Mateen Shah (ex-Senator, wealthy businessman)
Literacy Rate: (1998): 32.5% (male) 2.57% (female)
Primary school Enrollment (2003): 46% (male) 6% (female)
Middle School Enrollement (2003): 6.1% (male) .04% (female)
Economic base: timber and trucking

Administrative Hodgepodge


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3. (C//NF) The FATA is divided into seven administrative
territories, or "Agencies": Mohmand, Khyber, Orakzai,
Khurram, North Waziristan and South Waziristan. As a region,
it lies outside of the elected, legal, and administrative
bounds that govern each of the four provinces of Pakistan.
Technically a federal territory, it is supposed to be
governed by the Federal Ministry for States and Frontiers
(SAFRON). The SAFRON Ministry's charter charges it with
directing all federal interaction with the FATA, asserting
administrative and political control, and overseeing
development plans and policy directives. In reality, chronic
indifference and a lack of control at the SAFRON ministry has
resulted in the shift of FATA responsibilities to a labyrinth
of federal, provincial (NWFP) and local actors that seek to
assert influence over FATA; none has effective or complete
control.



4. (C//NF) Provincially, the FATA is currently administered
by the NWFP Governor and his "FATA Secretariat". The NWFP
Governor has the power to oversee all administrative, legal,
and economic decisions made for FATA. In 2002, former NWFP
Governor Ifthikar Shah established the FATA Secretariat to
consolidate the political and development functions disbursed
through several provincial cabinet ministries. It was also
created as a follow-on to the now defunct FATA development
cooperation, which was seen as corrupt and inefficient. When
Governor Khalilur Rehman took office in March 2005, he
strengthened the administrative powers of the FATA
Secretariat, envisioning it as a place to coordinate and

SIPDIS
implement long-term development plans, and ensure
accountability in the Political Agents' running of each
Agency. Governor Rehman announced that his goal was to break
the control of drug mafias, warlords and what he referred to
in 2004 as the "stranglehold" of the mullahs by improving
educational opportunities, increasing funding for
development, winning over warlords, and eliminating FATA,s
isolation. Actual implementation of this plan has been
faulty, as the Governor's control has been weak, and the
Secretariat has been mired in bureaucracy and in all

SIPDIS
likelihood, corruption.



5. (U) Administrative and judicial powers are carried out by
a mid-level bureaucrat from the GOP's District Management
group, the Political Agent (PA), and several Deputy PAs.
Under the administrative system created by the British
colonial government, each PA was appointed federally and
approved by the NWFP governor. His key role was to ensure
tribal loyalty to the government, prevent intra- and
inter-tribal disputes, and dole out provincial and federal
funding to tribal chiefs as he saw fit. PAs hold the powers
of Magistrate, Sessions Judge, and implementing agent for

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Federal Government Orders. Traditionally, PAs have relied on
the good-will and assistance of Tribal Chiefs, which they
often bought with bribes and offers of greater funds for the
tribe. PAs also needed assistance from the levy and Khasdar
(militia) forces in their Agency to administer law and order.
Over time, the influence of PAs over tribes has waned and
they have been seen as corrupt and out-of-step with tribal
interests. Tribes often put more stock into decisions made by
a jirga (a tribal council of elders empowered with
decision-making and negotiating authority by a tribe or the
Agency population) or their increasingly influential
religious leaders than the decisions and threats made by
Political Agents. The financial leverage Political Agents
hold over tribes may also hold less sway today than it once
did, largely due to the income provided by smuggling and
other illicit activities.

Legal Muddle


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6. (U) Constitutionally, laws passed by the GOP do not apply
in FATA. FATA residents cannot seek legal redress in either
NWFP's provincial courts or the federal judiciary because
neither has jurisdiction there. The GOP's "Criminal
Procedure Code," which underpins the foundation of Criminal
Law in Pakistan does not fully apply in FATA and is often
supplanted by Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR), an arcane
code of laws that relies on the principle of collective
punishment to prevent (and punish) crimes ranging from
banditry and crime to harboring fugitives and being
"unfriendly to the government". Punishments include:
arresting family members of perpetrators, demolishing houses
or villages found in violation of codes, levying fines on
households or imposing economic blockades. For example,
houses found to harbor fugitives can be demolished after one
warning. FCR does not allow the right to appeal sentences or
judgments at the High Court or Supreme Court level.



7. (U) When the Political Agent (or tribe) chooses, civil and
criminal disputes can be solved by a jirga--a council of
elders. According to the FCR, the Political Agent can choose
to depute the powers of magistrate to a council of elders,
when either of the parties in a dispute belongs to a frontier
tribe, or, when the crime is likely to cause a blood feud.
The jirga implements decisions either based on Pakhtunwali
tribal code, Sharia, or a combination thereof. Decisions by
the jirga are final and cannot be appealed. Jirgas are also
used to settle inter-tribal disputes and disputes between the
government and a tribe (or individual).

Stone-Age Development


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8. (SBU) In terms of social, economic and political
development, the FATA and its neighboring Provincially
Administered Tribal Areas are the least developed regions in
Pakistan. According to the 1998 census, less than 18 percent
of the population is literate (compared to a national average
of 48 percent), and less than 20 percent of males and 6
percent of females (on average) make it past primary school.
Access to health care (1 bed per 1450 people and 1 doctor
for 1529 patients), clean water, sanitation, electricity and
irrigation is also abysmal, putting parts of FATA
figuratively and realistically "back in the stone age."



9. (SBU) Political development in the FATA has traditionally
been rooted in a tribal culture of collective decision-making
by un-elected maliks. Political party activity is banned in
the region, though representatives of the religio-political
party, Jamaat-e Ulema-e Islam Fazlur Rehman (JUI-F), have a
base in tribal politics because many mosque-leaders are
members of the party and disseminate the party line at weekly
prayer services. In 1996, former Prime Minister Benazir
Bhutto introduced elections in the FATA by calling for the
election of eight tribal Ministers of the National Assembly
(MNAs). Prior to this election, tribal elders represented

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each agency. In 1997, MNAs were chosen by universal adult
franchise. In 2002, the election resulted in the election of
12 nominally-independent MNAs and 8 nominally independent
Senators (most vote in line with the JUI-F and the Islamist
MMA alliance). The government uses statistics (such as the
lower-than-average voter turnout (approximately 45% in 2002)
and the negligible turnout of women) to argue that the tribal
system in FATA does not allow for "one man, one vote" style
elections, an argument it continues to posit today to explain
the dearth of political party activity in the FATA.
CROCKER