• Geo-strategic considerations have hampered socio-politico- economic development in South Waziristan and FATA; making them a playground for vested interests of internal and external powers, thus leaving the area vulnerable to perpetual conflicts.

• In the past four decades two developments, first, labor migration to Gulf and accompanying remittances; second, social disruption, monetary windfall and the physical destruction caused by the Afghan Jihad have transformed the socio-political landscape of the area.

• The primary beneficiaries of state patronage and external powers have been vested interests and not the marginalized segments of society. This has widened the gulf between the privileged and the dispossessed.

• The policy arena constituting multiple actors is fragmented with divergent interests vying for policy change and governance reforms.

• FATA needs structural reforms that pave the way from security driven to development guided governance principles for the sustainable development of the region.