PESHAWAR, July 14: The anti-terrorism court at Swat (Malakand) could not start functioning despite passage of four months, as the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, has not been extended to the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (Pata).

Although, the law was not extended to Pata as per constitutional requirement, the Law, Justice and Human Rights Division established an ATC at Swat for the Malakand division on March 5.

A notification was issued same day through which seven ATCs were set up in the former divisional headquarters of the NWFP — Peshawar, Mardan, Kohat, Bannu, D.I.Khan, Abbottabad and Swat (Malakand).

A district and sessions judge, Mohammad Ayaz Khan was appointed presiding officer of the Swat ATC, whereas a public prosecutor, Said Bashar was also appointed. It is learnt that for the last four months the presiding officer and the prosecutor had not received any work due to legal technicalities.

A local lawyer told Dawn that under Article 247 of the Constitution, no law enacted by the parliament or ordinance promulgated by the president could be applicable to the Fata and Pata unless a separate notification was issued with the approval of the president in this regard.

The ATA, 1997, was enacted by the parliament, but it was not extended to Fata and Pata. The law became applicable to the NWFP and Balochistan after the ATA was amended on Aug 14, 2001, but still it was not extended to Pata.

It is learnt that the provincial law department has sent a summary to the federal government requesting it to issue a notification for the extension of ATA to Pata.

The ATC at Swat has also been conveyed that till extension of the law no work could be assigned to it.

An official claimed that while establishing seven ATCs the federal government was ignorant of the fact that the law had yet to be extended to Pata.