In his pithy but poignant commentary on the documentary film NAZA, British journalist Jonathan Cook identifies a malaise that helped lift Western civilisation to its current strength.

Today's Western privileges were built on a long history of naked, racist colonialism - greed, pillage, slavery and genocide - that we have never truly renounced or forsaken.

NAZA is not just about Israel and Gaza. It is about the evil lurking in us all, says Cook, in a bitter reminder of the conflicts, land grabs and democratic repression taking place across the world.

What Cook points to is a world in disorder, propped up by a new form of colonialism: bigger powers relying on smaller, amenable states to pursue their objectives while practically ignoring the rule of law and human rights.

One wonders if the turmoil following the imposition of Governor's Rule in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa is also a manifestation of this global disorder and quest for absolute power.

The 48-member Area Representative and Development Council (ARDC), comprising tribal elders from 12 districts for looking after the ex-FATA regions, recalls a proposal discussed in the 1990s to replace the existing FATA administrative arrangement with a tribal advisory council. The crucial difference is that the 2018 merger brought these areas under the provincial system, with courts, police and other civilian institutions. Whether the new council will work within that framework or gradually undermine it by restoring the influence of federally appointed or politically favoured tribal intermediaries.

The composition........

© The Express Tribune