02 March 2005	Wednesday	20 Muharram 1426

PESHAWAR, March 1: Lawmakers and elders from tribal agencies have demanded that the government abolish all discriminatory sections of the Frontier Crimes Regulations which are repugnant to fundamental human rights.

A three-member Senate standing committee, headed by Senator Farhatullah Babar, invited parliamentarians and maliks from the tribal areas here on Monday to discuss various aspects of the FCR and seek their opinion on proposed legal reforms.

The government has started consultation with elders and representatives of civil society in an attempt to take them into confidence before introducing amendments to the law, a legacy of the British Raj.

During the meeting, the elders rejected the newly-established 'nominated' agency councils in the seven agencies of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata). Members of the nominated agency councils also took part in the discussion.

A noted Islamic scholar and MNA from the Khyber Agency, Allama Noorul Haq Qaddri, proposed that the government should bring amendments to the FCR in conformity with the tribal customs and traditions. He said tribesmen would fully cooperate if the government amended the FCR in accordance with the social values and wishes of Fata people.

Former federal minister Malik Waris Khan Afridi termed the agency councils a 'mischievous move' of the NWFP Governor's Fata secretariat. He said the nominated councils were eyewash in the name of reforms.

He demanded that the government reform legal, administrative and justice system and restore fundamental rights of the people. Member of Fata Reforms Committee Engineer Toor Gul said that tribesmen had been deprived of their basic rights and they were treated as second-class citizens. He proposed that the government should give legal cover to the Jirga system and give tribesmen the right of appeal in the Supreme Court.