KOHAT, Sept 5: The Fata Reforms Committee, which met here under the chairmanship of retired Justice Mian Mohammad Ajmal, suggested reduction in punishments for various crimes and right of appeal to high court against orders passed and judgements pronounced under the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR).

The Committee had invited elders of the frontier regions of Kohat and Peshawar, experts and tribal journalists to a discussion on Sunday.

Participants of the discussion also suggested appointment of a special advisor to the NWFP governor, with the status of a minister, from amongst the tribal elders who could guide him on the issues pertaining to Fata, because the bureaucracy usually creates confusion and confrontation between the government and tribesmen.

Discussing section 21 of the collective responsibility clause of the FCR, the members of the committee suggested that instead of punishing the whole tribe only male members of a criminal family should be arrested and that too after a final verdict by an independent jirga. Similarly, section 22 be amended to fix a maximum limit of fine at Rs50,000.

The committee was of the view that section 34, under which a house or houses of a suspect or accused tribe could be demolished, should be omitted altogether and the imprisonment mentioned in it be reduced to three months.

Under section 40 of the FCR, a person can be held in jai without trial for three years and his punishment can be increased by another three years.

The participants of the discussion unanimously endorsed the idea that the prisoner should be released after three months if a political court does not hold him guilty.

The disucssion was attended by senator Malik Noor Sher, Chief of Jamaat-i-Islami Darra Adamkhel Noor Zaman, Mian Manzoor, representative of tribal lawyers forum Kareem Mahsud, Malik Mohammad Ali, Malik Wali Khan, Malik Inayat, Malik Waris Khan, Malik Asher Khan, Malik Khaista Gul, Majeed Khan, Munawar Afridi and expert on tribal affairs Rahimullah Yousafzai.