I am very amused by the establishment formula for the Pakhtuns of FATA. They are always assumed to be the security guards of the Durand Line, the assumption being the basis of fancy security theories like 'the strategic depth'. This theory was promulgated as an official policy at the GHQ when General Aslam Beg was the COAS and General Hameed Gul the incharge of ISI. In their fantasies, every Pakhtun of the FATA was assumed to be guarding the country's international border with Afghanistan. A kind of quid pro quo of this fabled role of the FATA men is the free electricity being provided to the entire area by TESCO, a subsidiary of PESCO (Peshawar Electricity Supply Company) that is burdened with humungous line losses for no fault of its own. These losses are then being paid by the NWFP residents (again for no fault of theirs) as additional surcharges in their bills. The electricity being supplied free to FATA is used with abandon in factories, especially of the Mommand and Khyber Agencies. In rest of the FATA areas, it not only lights up the homes of our Pakhtuns but is even abused to run Tandoors that cook bread. -DR KHURRUM SHAUKAT YUSAFZAI, Peshawar, via e-mail, August 7.