Governance Challenges in Mainstreaming of Federally Administered Tribal Areas into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

The passage of 25th amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan guaranteed doing away of articles 246 and 247 in the Constitution which had restricted the application of parliamentary and provincial laws of the land to the tribal areas. The rule of law principle thus extends fully to the areas that stand merged with the KP province. The colonial past has been left behind by replacing the system of FCR with the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution. Amidst all hopes new challenges of governance are also likely to develop. In the context, this paper highlights the governance challenges in mainstreaming of Federally Administered Tribal Areas into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with a special focus on Challenges of Law enforcement, jurisdiction and land revenue. This study is conducted by using historical and analytical approaches with descriptive and explanatory mode of research. Both primary and secondary data is utilized in order to investigate the research problem. Weak states with significant problems of governance (authority), capacity and legitimacy often face persistent challenges in controlling their territories, leading to the emergence of ungoverned areas within their geographical boundaries. Authority, capacity and legitimacy are interdependent and hence their balance is essential for state-building. An imbalance in them weakens instead of strengthening a state. Accordingly, the government should extend jurisdiction, ensure law enforcement and generation of revenue in FATA in order to accomplish the goal of state-building and strengthening governance.