March 30, 2008	Sunday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 21, 1429

ISLAMABAD, March 29: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Saturday expressed concern over Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani’s decision of abolishing the Frontier Crimes Regulations.

Criticising the rationale of unilaterally disbanding the FCR, he said it would lead to the repeal of the historic accord reached between the founder of the nation Quaid-i-Azam and tribesmen and create a void which was not advisable. “Tribesmen will resist it,” he warned in his speech in the National Assembly.

He said that no decision should be imposed on tribal areas without seeking consent of their representatives in parliament and elders. “Tribesmen will launch an uprising against the government if it fails to evolve a consensus on the issue.”

The JUI-F chief said that various clauses of the FCR should be discussed and reviewed in parliament before making any change or abolishing it.

Prime Minister Gilani immediately called his adviser on interior Rahman Malik and held a meeting with Maulana Fazl in his chamber to discuss the merits of his decision of abolishing the FCR.Later, the prime minister informed the house that it had been decided in the meeting that a two-member committee comprising Khurshid Shah and Syed Naveed Qamar of the Pakistan People’s Party would look into the complaints about the FCR.