THE issue of how the federation distributes its resources has never been a technical one. It has always been tied to questions of equity, inclusion and long-standing neglect.

I was in parliament when the seventh NFC Award was finalised in 2010 — a rare moment in our legislative history where the federation and provinces reached genuine consensus on the distribution of national resources. For decades, the people of Fata had received per capita development funds far below the national average, a disparity quantified by the Sartaj Aziz committee at roughly 44 per cent, reflecting a structural pattern of exclusion. Marked by alienation, Fata had long remained a periphery of the state.

The seventh NFC Award, constitutionally effective from 2010 to 2015, is still in force. It has been extended year after year in violation of Article 160 of the Constitution, which requires a fresh award every five years. Then came 2018. The 25th Constitutional Amendment merged Fata with KP with promises that finance would follow function and that the merged districts would, within a generation, be brought at par with the rest of the country. We are now on the eleventh extension. The framework that governs the distribution of national revenue........

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