PESHAWAR, Sept 19: A law reforms commission constituted by the NWFP government has proposed appointment of clerics as judges in the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (Pata) by amending the Nifaz-i-Nizam-i-Adal regulations, 1999, in vogue in these areas.
The 14-member commission has put forward various amendments in the regulations, claiming that through those amendments the judicial system in Pata would be made in accordance with the injunctions of Islam.
The commission recommended that senior clerics or senior legal experts who had graduation in LLB or LLM in Shariat from Islamic International University would require to be appointed as judges in the criminal courts in the region. However, the commission has yet to clarify whether candidates possessing ordinary LLB degrees would be eligible to become a Qazi (judge) in Pata.
Giving details at a press briefing here on Sunday, Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal spokesman Mufti Kefayetullah said that the provincial government had introduced judicial reforms in the Malakand and Kohistan regions in 1999 in the light of the Sharia laws. But these reforms could not be implemented in its true spirit, he added.
He said that the MMA government had constituted law reforms commission under the Nifaz-i-Shariat Act, 2003, for suggesting reforms in the judicial system in Pata. The commission is headed by Maulana Hussain Ahmad.
Under the 1973 Constitution, he maintained, the provincial government could not bring amendments in these regulations without the consent of the NWFP governor with the prior approval from the president.
He said that the reforms commission would soon finalize its recommendations and hoped that the president and the governor would give their assent to the new recommendations. The commission has proposed an Aalim judge in the district courts equivalent to the status of sessions judge.
The candidates must have a specialization from a seminary in Fiqah and should be Mufti. Women will also be eligible to become Alaqa Qazi (judicial magistrate) provided that they possessed degrees of LLB and LLM Sharia.
He said that the commission had now been codifying the code of civil and criminal procedure and the law of evidence in accordance with the injunction of Islam. The spokesman said that the role of a Muaven Qazi (assistant to the judge) was very weak in the present law and the court was not bound to receive assistance from him.
Therefore, the commission had proposed that it should be made binding upon the court to seek advise from the Muaven Qazi. His post shall be made permanent, it has been proposed.
He said that the commission was also examining the law of civil procedure, criminal and Qanoon-i-Shahadat (law of evidence) courts. He further said that the establishment of Murafa Court was also under consideration. These would be a sort of appellate courts, he added.
