Karzai’s Swipe at Pakistan
Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, said the other day that his government would never recognize Durand Line as international border between the two countries. He said that the government of Pakistan was pressurizing Afghanistan into accepting Durand Line as the formal border by creating issues like construction of border gates and other military installations. In apparent reference to Pakistan, and what he called, ‘as a reminder to the Taliban’, Karzai said: “Instead of destroying their own country, they should turn their weapons against places where plots are made against Afghan prosperity”.
Such provocative remarks by Karzai could exacerbate the already uneasy relationship with Pakistan. Since Pakistan came into being, one of the fundamental reasons for strained relations with Afghanistan has been non-acceptance of Durand Line by the latter as an international border between the two countries. Afghanistan was the last country to recognize Pakistan because of its leadership’s perception that Pushtuns on both sides were inseparable. Barring the Taliban era, invariably all Afghan governments had raised the issue of Pakhtunistan.
It is worth mentioning that in NWFP a referendum was held in July 1947 in which 289244 votes were cast in favor of the NWFP’s union with Pakistan and only 2,874 votes for union with India, a close ally of Afghanistan at that time. Afghanistan, nevertheless, does not have the right or justification to raise the Durand Line issue, as after two Afghan wars, the British and Afghanistan had come to the negotiating table and in 1893 both sides agreed to the Durand Line as the border between Afghanistan and the then British India. Sir Mortimer Durand, Foreign Secretary of British India and Emir of Afghanistan Abdur Rahman had signed the agreement. In July 1947, a month before the partition and independence of the subcontinent, Afghan government informed the British government that the tribesmen in the tribal areas wanted to dissociate themselves from India - meaning Pakistan but the governor of the NWFP, Sir George Cunningham after touring the tribal areas and meeting the tribal chiefs declared that the people wanted to retain the same ties with the new state of Pakistan, as they had with the British India.
After the establishment of Pakistan in August 1947, Kabul argued that Pakistan was not a successor state to Britain but a new state that was carved out of British India, and as such it could not inherit the rights which British India had. It is a matter of record that the world courts have universally upheld the binding bilateral agreements with or between colonial powers, and declared that these are passed down to successor independent states, as was the case with most of Africa. A unilateral declaration by one party is of no consequence in this regard. Various Pakistan governments failed to understand that by giving them the same rights as enjoyed by people living in other parts of Pakistan, the people of FATA would have proved bulwark against any conspiracy or illegitimate demand from across the border. In April 2011, President Asif Ali Zardari had signed two orders regarding Amendments in the FCR (2011) and Extension of the Political Parties Order 2002 to the Tribal Areas. FCRs being legacy of the British Raj should be done away with completely.
The FATA region merits a provincial status.. Bring up any criterion and the region emphatically makes for a compact province area-wise, population-wise, resources-wise, administration-wise, as well as ethnically and linguistically.
The position of creating FATA province is different, and can be created through presidential order, whereas carving out a province from the existing province like Punjab or Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, which requires a resolution passed by 2/3rd majority of provincial legislature. Had the government made FATA a separate province, it would have been calm and tranquil part of the country, as more than 10 million people would have had their own governor, chief minister and a representative cabinet, giving them a sense of being equal partners in progress. The fact remains that people of tribal areas are entitled to the same rights and privileges that are enjoyed by the people of other provinces. Had they been part of mainstream politics, religious, fanatics would not have had the influence to aid and abet the foreign militants to create problems for Pakistan. By doing so, moderate trends would have flourished and moderate elements prevailed over the extremist elements.
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