April 02, 2008	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 24, 1429

PESHAWAR, April 1: Awami National Party president Asfandyar Wali Khan said here on Tuesday that peace talks between the coalition government in NWFP and militants would begin soon after the induction of the provincial cabinet.

Talking to journalists on the premises of provincial assembly, the ANP chief confirmed that contacts with the Taliban had been established but the new cabinet would decide about how to handle the situation.

“Certainly, we have contacts with the Taliban,” said Asfandyar Wali. He said that the cabinet would review the law and order situation in the province and would suggest recommendations for future line of action.

The ANP leader said that he had told the US delegations that growing militancy could not be resolved through use of force and it was need of the hour to hold dialogue with the Taliban. When asked about the future of National Security Council (NSC) he said that Parliament was the supreme body and the controversial council would function within the framework of the Constitution.

FCR ABOLITION: Awami National Party president of Khyber Agency chapter Abdur Rahim Afridi said that only two per cent people, having vested interests, were demanding continuity of Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) that had become albatross around the necks of tribesmen.

The FCR, he said, had made the Fata people as second rate citizens of the country. “Under the FCR system ‘Maliks’ in tribal agencies receive monthly and weekly stipends amounting to millions of rupees through the political agent under various heads which remain un-audited,” he told a press conference here on Tuesday.

Flanked by other officer-bearers of ANP, he said that FCR was black law which had not only rendered the people of tribal areas second rate citizens of the country but also cast negative shadows on their economy.“We warmly welcome the announcement made by Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani to do away with the FCR,” he said. These laws were legacy of the British imperialism, enacted for enslaving the free spirit of tribal masses that they carried forward for the freedom of their dear homeland, he added.

He termed the announcement of abolition of FCR a historical one, saying that it provided an opportunity to the tribesmen to live as free citizens of the country.

He demanded of the government to grant tribesmen the right of appeal in the high courts and Supreme Court of the country and extend Political Parties Act to these areas as well as give them representation in the provincial assembly of NWFP. “We have a role model before us and we like to be treated like the people of Malakand Agency and should be mould from Federally Administered Tribal Area (Fata) to Provincially Administered Tribal Area (Pata),” he added.

To a question he said it was misguiding and sheer propaganda by some quarters that the abolition of FCR would affect tribal traditions. On the contrary it would help strengthen the tribal traditions as well as make jirga system a real and powerful functional force in these regions of the country, he concluded.