While political parties are expressing concerns over the new electoral constituencies in several districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, former parliamentarians strongly criticise the merger of two National Assembly constituencies in South Waziristan.

South Waziristan consists of two districts. According to the census of 2008, the total population of both districts was 675 thousand.

While political parties are expressing concerns over the new electoral constituencies in several districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, former parliamentarians strongly criticise the merger of two National Assembly constituencies in South Waziristan.

In the old constituencies, two National Assembly constituencies were formed in South Waziristan, one of which was Constituency NA 49 (Upper South Waziristan District) Mehsud area, while the other Constituency NA 50 (Lower South Waziristan) consisted of tribal areas of Wazir Sulaiman Khel and Dotani.

According to the 2023 census, the total population of South Waziristan (Upper and Lower) has reached 888 thousand 675 people.

In the new constituencies, the constituencies of both districts (NA 49 and NA 50) have been merged to form a single constituency, NA 42.

Even when South Waziristan was a district, the district had two provincial seats. These included PK 113 Mehsud area, which has become PK 109 South Waziristan Upper in the new constituencies.

The second constituency consisted of PK 114 Wazir and Dutani area. This constituency is now PK 110 South Waziristan Lower.

Ali Wazir, a former member of the National Assembly from South Waziristan Lower, says that the population of South Waziristan is more than Tank, Dera Ismail Khan, and adjoining areas, but people have migrated and settled in other areas. They are reluctant to return to their native areas due to unrest and lack of economic opportunities.

“Decades of war-torn South Waziristan should have received special concessions. Instead, our representation has been reduced and our avenues for advancement have been limited by making two constituencies into one.”

Ali Wazir said that contesting elections in the South Waziristan Constituency consisting of two districts would be just like someone contesting five constituencies at a time. This constituency starts from the Tank district, ends at the Balochistan border on one side, starts from the Afghan border on the other, and reaches North Waziristan and Bannu.

He questions whether it will be possible for the candidate to reach people in such a wide area.

Tehreek-e-Insaf Senator from South Waziristan, Dost Muhammad Mehsud, says that the tribes have also lost the privileges they had before the integration. In such a situation, how will the people of South Waziristan accept the removal of the National Assembly seats? “New demarcation of South Waziristan set to perpetuate conflict between Mehsud and Wazir tribes”.

He fears that with the National Assembly seat being one, people in both places will associate small things with tribal issues.

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam leader and former assembly member Maulana Jamaluddin says that his party did not favour the FATA merger from the beginning. Due to this, six national seats have been reduced, and eight Senate seats have also been eliminated. Perhaps no one will become a senator from FATA in the future.

While political parties are expressing concerns over the new electoral constituencies in several districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, former parliamentarians strongly criticise the merger of two National Assembly constituencies in South Waziristan.

He fears that now, whether the ministerial candidate wins from here, Mehsud r Dutani, it will create more problems for him because there are already differences among the tribes.

“If development funds go to one region, the rest will look at their representative with suspicion, and it will be given the colour of tribalism”.

Muhammad Bilal, district officer of the Election Commission, says that South Waziristan is perhaps the most complicated region in Pakistan regarding location. In the old constituencies, the Mehsuds of Tiarza were included in South Waziristan Lower, but after the new census, Tiarza was included back in the Mehsud constituency.

Chairman of the National Democratic Movement and former member of the National Assembly of North Waziristan Mohsin Dawar says that he had submitted a bill to the National Assembly before the provincial election in the merged areas, in which 24 general seats of the provincial assembly and 12 seats of the national assembly were reserved for the merged districts. While there were seven specific seats of the provincial assembly apart from them.

He says the lower house had approved the bill with an overwhelming majority, but the establishment did not appreciate it. Meanwhile, there was an incident in which Ali Wazir and he were arrested; he was released when the provincial elections were held. Now, making a single constituency of two districts of South Waziristan is a great injustice to the people.