FATA’s Merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: An Historical Analysis

Nation-building is an evolutionary socio-political process. It not only provides security, dignity and ownership to a community, but also ensures democratic participation of people within the state to claim rights and perform duties. It enables a state to defend its sovereignty, achieve economic goals, and protect national interests at regional and global levels. Since 9/11 incident, terrorism has become a global challenge. To counter this menace Pakistan also aligned and provided land routes to foreign forces to get access to a landlocked Afghanistan. Across the Pak-Afghan border, through the tribal belt known as FATA, terrorism has spilled over Pakistan. The exclusive status of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), in the past seventy years of Pakistan’s history, had deprived fundamental rights to the people of FATA. These tribal areas were governed by a separate law known as Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) made by the British in 1901. This law has proved as the main obstacle in bringing FATA in to the mainstream of Pakistan. After examining the historical and geographical aspects of FATA, the article shows how FATA remained outside the nation-building process in Pakistan. In this connection it seeks to see the position of FATA in the constitutions of Pakistan, including state initiatives to own this western belt and obstacles faced in merging FATA with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK). It narrates the events that led to the merger of FATA with the KPK and high lights future challenges as well. It recommends that FATA’s merger would help establish a strong line of defence against terrorism. ______

Qtls Conferring Root Architecture in an Interspecific Gossypium Hirsutum X Gossypium Barbadense Population

Genetic modification of the rooting system may lead to more drought tolerant upland cotton. A number of different root and physiological traits have been suggested as important mechanism of drought tolerance of cotton. This study was conducted to identify and map quantitative trait loci (QTLs) conferring root architecture in an interspecific cross Gossypium hirsutum x Gossypium barbadense population. An F 2 population was developed which differed greatly in root characteristics. A genetic map covering 3190.50 cM, with 219 marker loci and 26 linkage groups, was constructed by using this F 2 population. The Two F 2 populations were grown in tube and pots experiments. Tap root traits (length, weight, and lateral root numbers) were evaluated. QTL analysis via composite interval mapping detected 17 QTLs, for three root traits including 3 QTLs for fresh root weight, 6 QTLs for lateral root numbers, and 2 QTLs for tap root length in tube experiment, while in pot experiment, 3 QTLs for fresh root weight and 3 QTLs for lateral root numbers were identified. Individually the QTLs accounted for 11-28% of phenotypic variation. Common QTLs were indentified for fresh root weight and lateral root numbers on chr. 18 & chr. 25 respectively, in both pot and tube experiments. The QTLs for root traits, firstly detected in Gossypium, may provide a basis for marker-assisted selection to improve productivity in root-crop breeding.