PESHAWAR: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Saturday opposed a bill seeking the extension of the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and Islamabad High Court to Fata.

During a news conference here after holding a meeting with elders from tribal areas, the JUI-F chief wondered under what law the jurisdiction of the superior courts would be extended to Fata, which didn’t have the mechanism for lower courts.

He said his party had already rejected the Rewaj Bill, which was introduced in the National Assembly.

Mr Fazl said the Rewaj Bill was referred to the house’s relevant standing committee and his party’s MNAs had expressed reservations about it.

“We will oppose the Rewaj Bill,” he said.

He said before extending the superior courts’ jurisdiction, the government had to carry out land settlement in entire Fata.

The JUI-F chief said lower courts couldn’t dispose of civil cases in the absence of land settlement records.

He said the extension of the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction to Fata without land settlement records would create legal complications and cause disputes among the locals.

Mr Fazl urged the government to continue consultation and dialogue on the future of Fata.

The government had tabled a bill in the National Assembly on Friday to extend the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and Islamabad High Court to the tribal region.

Mr Fazl, whose party is a coalition partner of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz in the centre, insisted that the US government had orchestrated the Fata -Khyber Pakhtunkhwa merger plan.

“The US diplomats during meeting with the ‘people’ asked them to support the (Fata-KP) merger,” he said.

Asked whether the US diplomats had discussed the issue with him during meetings, the JUI-F chief said, “Americans can’t dare discuss anything against the country’s sovereignty.”

He said the US was pressuring the government to merge tribal areas with KP.

Mr Fazl also opposed the creation of the chief operating officer’s post in Fata and said the proposed move would be tantamount to establishing a parallel system of governance in the region.

He said the representation to the people of Fata in the KP Assembly through the next general elections was a step towards the merger of the province and Fata, which was unacceptable to his party.

The JUI-F chief said his party would organise the Fata Youth Conference in Peshawar on Oct 14, where tribal people, especially youngsters, would discuss their region’s future.

He urged the government and other stakeholders not to take any hasty decision on the future of tribal people.

Mr Fazl said tribal elders, too, had rejected the provisional report on the recent population census regarding Fata over serious reservations.

He said only 20 percent of people lived in Fata due to large-scale evictions caused by the government.

The JUI-F chief said Sindh, Balochistan, KP and parts of Punjab, too, had rejected the census report.

He criticised the KP government for planning to make new laws for the appointment of teachers to public sector schools and said the plan would cause insecurity among teachers.

Mr Fazl said various teacher associations had rejected the proposed law and that his party, too, advocated the cause of teachers.

He also criticised the provincial government for deciding to fix monthly honorarium for ‘khateebs’ of registered mosques and alleged that the move was meant to bribe clerics to win their support for the next elections.

“The PTI government has received funds from abroad for distribution to ulema to buy their loyalty. The khateebs should reject the honorarium offer,” he said.

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2017