Law for tribal people: FIGR restored in merged districts

Law minister says SC jurisdiction will be extended to ex-FATA after six months

PESHAWAR: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government has decided to restore the Fata Interim Governance Regulation 2018 in the merged tribal districts for the six-month period Supreme Court of Pakistan gave it to extend the judicial system there like all other areas of the country.

“After expiry of the interim period, laws prevalent in rest of the province will come in to force in the merged districts,” said K-P Law Minister Sultan Muhammad Khan said replying to a query by Daily Express.

In the meantime, he said, the government is holding consultations over enforcing FIGR, or any other law, however, as of now, FIGR has been implemented, he said.

The Peshawar High Court had declared the FIGR unconstitutional on October 30 last year and directed extending courts, legal and police system to the tribal districts. Following the decision, the K-P government took the case to Supreme Court.

Judicial system in ex-Fata: Confusion prevails over time frame

The top court, last Wednesday, declared FIGR un-constitutional and granted K-P government six months to create a uniform system of courts of ordinary jurisdiction in the province.

“Government of K-P is granted six months from the date of announcement of this judgment for the development of infrastructure to take steps to spread a uniform system of courts of ordinary jurisdiction in K-P, mandating the local law enforcement agencies to ensure that the rule of law is observed by reducing jirgas/panchayats etc. to arbitration forums which may be approached voluntarily by local residents to the extent of civil disputes only,” SC said.

Regarding this situation, Sultan Muhammad explained now that Supreme Court has granted six-month time to implement the judicial system in the tribal districts, the FIGR that had been suspended by the PHC has been restored.

He said that K-P government has decided not to implement the laws governing rest of the country in the tribal districts overnight during this interim period.

Moreover, he said that consultations are underway whether to implement the FIGR or the laws prepared by the previous government.

The law minister said that government will hold consultations on the type of laws that will be implemented after the interim period ends. He hinted at amending some laws for implementing in tribal areas.

Sultan Muhammad said that the provincial government will complete all arrangements within the deadline given by the Supreme Court and implement the judicial system.

FATA LG system emulates K-P structure

Since the British Raj days, the laws for Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) were different from the rest of the country. Some laws like Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) were outright cruel owing to clauses of shared responsibility of family for the crime of a man, denial of the right to appeal, hearing in court of law and counsellor access. While others like relief from tax and duties, exclusive quotas in employment, non-custom paid cars, were among many special rights enjoyed by the tribal people.

While the tribal people rejoiced getting rid of FCR following the merger, they were hit by a ton of bricks to know that now K-P police, police stations and courts were coming to the tribal areas. Of late there has also been controversy over the delimitation in ex-Fata, with representatives of the local people demanding demarcation of constituencies on tribal basis.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 19^th, 2019.