11 April 2005	Monday	01 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1426

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PESHAWAR, April 10: Two tribesmen, convicted by a non-judicial forum under the colonial-era Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR), have completed about 14 years of their lives behind bars and may have to remain in jail for another four decades if not released earlier. Prisoners Tahir Khan and Nabi Hussain Bangash were charged with carrying explosives. They were convicted by an assistant political agent (APA) of Kurram Agency on June 30, 1990 and sentenced to undergo a total of 42 years rigorous imprisonment on different counts. The APA had also imposed Rs1,50,000 fine on each of them and in default to undergo imprisonment of another 12 years.

The convicts are poor and cannot arrange money to pay fine which means their total sentence is 54 years. They were further sentenced to 14 years rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs50,000 each on three other counts and the tribal administration had ordered that their sentences should run consecutively. However one of the them, Tahir Hussain, filed appeal against his conviction before the then NWFP governor, forum for appeal against a sentence by the political administration, who maintained the sentence but ordered that the sentences should run concurrently hence their total imprisonment remained 54 years.

At the time of their conviction in 1990, Tahir Khan was about 18 and Nabi Hussain 24. Both of them had claimed that they were innocent and were implicated in the case.

In an appeal in 2003 to the Voice of Prisoners (VoP), an NGO struggling for the rights of prisoners and the destitute, they had stated that they had spent precious time of their lives inside the prison and would continue to remain there for another four decades if not provided relief. On this appeal the VoP filed a writ petition in the Peshawar High Court but the same was disposed of as withdrawn on Dec 14, 2004 because Fata areas do not fall in the territorial jurisdiction of PHC.

Now the NGO has field an appeal before the Commissioner FCR, who enjoys appellate powers under the law against orders of political agents. As the appeal has been filed after a delay of about 15 years, an application has also been annexed to it for condonation of the delay.

The tribal administration had pleaded before the APA at the time of their extra-judicial trial that they had a tip off that some miscreants would bring explosives to Sada Bazzar for carrying out explosion and killing innocent people. The claimed that on Jun 10, 1990, they spotted a donkey in the bazzar and its search led to recovery of a time bomb concealed in its saddle. They had claimed that they had arrested Tahir on the spot while Nabi Hussain, who had tried to escape from the scene, had been apprehended subsequently.

Under a custom of Kurram Agency, the political administration referred their matter to a jirga, which observed that both of them were involved in the offence.

On the basis of the findings of the jirga, the APA pronounced different sentences which included: 14 years RI under section 121-A PPC (conspiracy against state) read with section 11 of FCR; 14 years RI under section 124-A PPC (sedition) read with section 11 of FCR; and 14 years RI under section 436 (mischief by explosive substance) and 511 PPC (attempt to commit offence punishable with life in prison) read with section 11 of FCR.

They were also fined Rs50,000 on three counts in default of which they had to undergo additional four years imprisonment.

Chairman VoP Noor Alam Advocate told Dawn that under section 35 of the Criminal Procedure Code, sentence on different counts in one case should not exceed 25 years imprisonment. He added that the law was applicable to settled areas while in Fata political agents acted on whims.

He stated that it was inhuman to imprison a person for five decades. He said that the NWFP governor should take notice of all such cases and issue appropriate orders.