PESHAWAR, Sept 3: The Awami National Party, Khyber Agency has asked the government to abolish the FCR Reforms Committee for what it called due to its partiality.

In a statement issued here on Saturday, the party’s president in Khyber Agency Abdur Rahim Afridi, said that tribesmen had lost confidence in the FCR committee after the partial statements issued by two members of the committee.

Mr Afridi said in the presence of the committee’s members, Karim Mahsud and Wali Khan Afridi, that the committee had no right to seek the opinion of tribesmen regarding changes in the FCR.

He said the government should not waste money on such a futile exercise and should immediately disband the committee. The ANP, he said, had already rejected the committee and made its reservations clear about its role.

Mr Afridi also warned the Tribal Lawyers Forum’s members to stop hindering the process of reform in Fata.

Meanwhile, the FCR Reforms Committee continued its deliberations on Frontier Crimes Regulations in Peshawar on Saturday.

The chairman of the committee, Justice (rtd) Mian Mohammad Ajmal, who is a former Chief Justice of Peshawar High Court and a retired judge of Supreme Court presided over the meeting.

The members of the committee, Nawabzada Inayat Khan Afridi, Abdul Karim Mahsud, Wali Khan Afridi, Rahimullah Yusufzai and Mr. Manzoor Ahmad, Additional Secretary, Home Department, NWFP attended the meeting.

The committee heard the views of officers of Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Frontier Constabulary (FC), concerning the application of FCR in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and the difficulties encountered in apprehension of proclaimed offenders in the tribal areas and strengthening security on the boundary between the districts and tribal agencies.

The committee also invited Mr Haroon Jan Baryally, to share findings of his research paper with members of the jirga as a dispute-resolving body. In his paper, the researcher had made the case for official recognition of the jirga by the state as a dispute-resolving body.

The committee members will visit Kohat on Sunday in order to meet tribal elders, notables and intellectuals from Frontier Regions of Peshawar and Kohat districts and hear their views on the FCR.