16 October 2004	Saturday	01 Ramazan 1425

PESHAWAR, Oct 15: Condemning the detention of children and women under the Frontier Crimes Regulations, participants at a seminar here on Friday asked the government to release them immediately.

Through a unanimously adopted resolution, the participants said it was highly uncivilized and inhuman to detain innocent women and children just for the reason that their relatives were required in some crimes.

Through another resolution, they asked the political parties and members of parliament to play their role for the abolition of the FCR. The seminar on 'FCR: tool of violation of human rights' was jointly arranged by the Civil Awareness Promotion Society (Caps) and Action aid at the Peshawar Press Club.

The speakers discussed different sections of the FCR which were contrary to the provisions of the constitution guaranteeing fundamental rights. In his speech, former MNA and prominent advocate Abdul Lateef Afridi said the FCR and fundamental rights were poles apart as the former was a brutal law introduced by the British rulers with the sole aim of controlling the Pukhtoon people.

He pointed out that in the Chaudhry Zahoor Elahi case the Supreme Court had ruled that the FCR could not be included in the definition of the law. Similarly, he added, the Shariat bench of the Balochistan High Court in 1979 ruled that the FCR was unIslamic.

Mr Afridi said the government was not in favour of reforms in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas despite the fact that international media had focussed its attention on the region.

He said that President Pervez Musharraf and Governor Iftikhar Hussain Shah at a meeting on Jan 23, 2002, had given approval for reforms in Fata, including introduction of local government system and abolition of the FCR as well as the institution of political agent.

"The governor, who has been projecting himself as a progressive person, backed out of his commitment and now he has been trying to introduce so-called agency councils whose members are not even true representatives of the tribal people."

He asked donor agencies to link release of funds with reforms in Fata otherwise, he feared, the entire funding would be plundered by political agents and other officials.

Speaking on the occasion, leader of the Pukhtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party Dr Said Alam Mehsud said the colonial rulers considered the Pukhtoon people as their real enemies and due to this reason the FCR was introduced to subjugate them.

He was of the view that the FCR could not be seen in isolation as it was part of a bigger conspiracy aimed at dividing the Pukhtoon people. "The Gandamak treaty of 1879 and the Durand Line Agreement signed in 1893 between the British and the Afghan government were part of the same conspiracy," he remarked.

Dr Mehsud said that even elected representatives in Fata could not dare to raise voice against the government due to the presence of the FCR. He stated that though the colonial rulers were wicked they were better than the governments established after the creation of Pakistan as far as Fata was concerned.

He regretted that the real heroes of Pukhtoonkhwa had not been given due status in Pakistan, whereas agents of the British rulers were highlighted in the country's history.

Peshawar Press Club President Mohammad Riaz said that to further their expansionist designs and to protect their economic interests the colonial rulers introduced laws including the FCR, which were aimed at controlling the elements seeking independence.

He said that by all counts the FCR was a black law and should be abolished forthwith. He was of the view the fact-finding reports of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and the Peshawar High Court Bar Association had proved that innocent civilians including women and children suffered during the military operation in Waziristan.

In his speech, Caps chief executive Shakeel Waheedullah Khan informed the gathering that innocent children and women of a family in Lakki Marwat had been convicted under the FCR.

He said that on the one hand the Indian parliament had repealed Pota which dealt with terrorism, whereas in Pakistan parliament had been asking a dictator to rule the country in uniform.