PESHAWAR: A three-member Fata Tribunal, the final judicial forum under the erstwhile Frontier Crimes Regulation, has been non-functional for around three months as uncertainty looms over its status due to the promulgation of the Fata Interim Governance Regulation, 2018, in May.

Currently, around 485 cases are pending with the tribunal. They haven’t been taken up by the tribunal due to uncertainty.

An official at the tribunal told Dawn that the tribunal had mostly been adjourning hearing into these cases hoping that the government will issue some order to clarify the position.

The tribunal comprises chairman Sang-i-Marjan Khan and members Hussainzada Khan and Mohammad Atif Nazir.

The tenure of the tribunal members had ended on May 22 prompting the Fata Secretariat to issue a notification saying the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor has granted extension in the service period of the existing management of the tribunal for a period of six months.

The controversy emerged soon after the issuance of that notification when the Fata Interim Governance Regulation, 2018, was promulgated by the country’s president and was notified on May 28.

Through the interim regulation, which provides a legal framework about how to conduct proceedings in civil and criminal cases, the colonial-era FCR was repealed.

In 2011, certain amendments were made to the FCR and through Section 55A, the Fata Tribunal, which is the third and last judicial forum, was introduced.

The tribunal has powers of revision against the decisions of the appellate authority, which was that of FCR commissioner. A revision petition has to be filed within 90 days of the decision by the appellate authority.

For the purpose of the interim regulation, the political agent has to be declared the deputy commissioner, additional political agent the additional deputy commissioner and assistant political agent the assistant commissioner.

Just like FCR, the new regulation says, “the appeal against the order made by the deputy commissioner (political agent) or the judge shall lie to the commissioner or additional commissioner authorised by the governor.”

However, unlike the FCR under which the third judicial forum was the Fata Tribunal, the current regulation says an appeal against the order of the appellate authority may be filed before the high court.

Neither the interim regulation has any mention of the tribunal nor has it suggested which forum would exercise the revision powers.

Now, there is confusion about the status of the tribunal.

Some experts say if the government intends to abolish the tribunal, it should be mentioned in the interim regulation and that there should be clarity about whether the pending cases will be transferred to the high court or the tribunal would stay put until these cases are decided.

The revision petition of Dr Shakil Afridi has also been pending with the tribunal for around four years.

Dr Shakil, a Pakistani doctor arrested on the charge of helping the American CIA trace Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden through a fake vaccination campaign in Abbottabad, has challenged the upholding of his conviction by the appellate forum of the FCR commissioner for having links with a banned militant outfit.

The petition was fixed for hearing on Aug 2 but as the tribunal was non-functional, the case wasn’t heard and was fixed for hearing on Oct 3.

On Mar 15, 2014, the FCR commissioner had upheld the conviction of Dr Shakil for being linked to a banned militant organisation of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency but reduced his original prison term slapped by the assistant political agent’s court from 33 years to 23 years and fine from Rs320,000 to Rs220,000.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2018