Pakistan Study Centre, University of Peshawar held 3-day National Conference on FATA at Baragali Summer Camp University of Peshawar on 29-31 August, 2013. In all, 25 Paper presenters/intellectuals from all over the country including 100 delegates attended the conference. Prof. Dr. Rasool Jan, Vice Chancellor University of Peshawar, inaugurated the moot. The Chief Organizer / Director Pakistan Study Centre, Dr. Fakhr-ul-Islam highlighted the objectives. Topics of paper included history, culture, Jirga system, FCR, political participation, insurgency, economic and social sector development. Every paper was followed by lively discussion / questions / answers Session. It has been decided that proceedings of the conference will be published soon. On the concluding day, the conference approved a joint declaration which reads as “The National Conference on FATA held at Baragali Summer Camp University of Peshawar on 29-31 August, 2013 expresses its solidarity with the people of FATA and regrets that people of that area have been kept deprived of all the rights available to the settled areas of Pakistan. The causes of unrest in FATA are many which include poverty, bad governance, Draconian laws, institutional corruption, and political, economic and social deprivation. However, the most important of the causes is the ongoing insurgency. This insurgency needs to be stopped through engaging the non-State actors in dialogue.
The conference termed “Drone Attacks” in FATA unlawful, unjust, counter-productive and detrimental to the sovereignty of Pakistan. These attacks should be stopped through aggressive diplomacy. The conference felt the need of multi-dimensional reforms in the area. The conference urged upon the government that in devising policy for FATA, total reliance on bureaucracy should be minimized and opinion of academia and civil society may also be taken into consideration”.
Source: UOP Official
