PESHAWAR, Nov 07: Legal experts at a discussion on Tuesday criticised the colonial law Frontier Crimes Regulations which, they said, did not address the ongoing socio-political crisis in the tribal agencies.
“The FCR has proved to be a barrier in social development of the tribal areas. It has not been used to stop militant activities in the tribal areas, which have created unrest in the region,” Latif Afridi said and added. “The peace deal between the government and militants has mortgaged the sovereignty of the tribal people. The FCR fails to answer questions arising out of the situation as North and South Waziristan are now virtually in the control of the Taliban.”
“The process of Talibanisation is fast spreading to Bajaur and Khyber agencies and other parts of the tribal region,” he warned at the roundtable organised by Actionaid.
“The military government and the Inter-Services Intelligence want to establish a Taliban ‘state’ in the tribal enclave and use the tribal belt as a shock-absorbing area,” he alleged.
“The unrest could even spread to peaceful Kurram agency as often armed men in 15 to 20 vehicles come from Afghanistan to the agency and instigate the local Sunni population against the Shias”, Mr Afridi said.
“The FCR does not address such issues but rather is used to victimise the poor people of the tribal areas. This colonial law which was imposed by the British rulers to stop or control uprisings in the tribal areas and it does not ease the crisis emerging out of militant activities and US bombings in the tribal agencies,” he said.
“This law is useless and should be abolished,” Mr Afridi said. “As the colonists have gone so should their cruel law.”
Other speakers said that now people in the tribal areas were aware of their fundamental human rights which were violated by the FCR.
They said that the section 21 of the FCR about collective responsibility, section 22 and 23 about territorial responsibility and the notorious section 40 were usually misused.
“Although under the constitution, every citizen, including the people in Tribal areas, have been guaranteed human rights but when the tribal people’s rights are violated neither the Supreme Court nor the high court could offer a remedy,” they deplored.
“The political agents and the Malaks get benefit from the FCR and do not want it to be repealed or changed,” a legal expert said.
“Pakistan is a signatory to international conventions like the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women but under the FCR’s section 40, even women and children can be detained,” he said.
“Under the law, the political agents enjoy many powers which are often misused as there is no court of appeal and the commissioner FCR, revisional FCR and the bureaucracy often gives little relief to the appellants.” they pointed out.