SC allows petition against 25th amendment

In an interesting development, the apex court has admitted a petition filed against the 25th Constitutional Amendment and issued notices to the federal and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) governments as well as the lawmakers from the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).

A Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial on Wednesday took up the petition that argued that the 25th amendment did not take into account Article 247 (6).

Counsel for the petitioner, Waseem Sajjad, told the bench that Article 247 (6) cannot be ignored whether Fata was merged with the K-P province or declared a separate province.

“You have brought an interesting case,” Justice Bandial noted. The court later adjourned hearing of the case for an indefinite period as it asked the Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) to assist the court.

Article 247 (6) says: “The president may, at any time, by order, direct that the whole or any part of a tribal area shall cease to be tribal area, and such order may contain such incidental and consequential provisions as appear to the president to be necessary and proper:

“[However, this can happen] provided that before making any order under this clause, the president shall ascertain, in such manner as he considers appropriate, the views of the people of the tribal area concerned, as represented in tribal Jirga.”

The parliament and the K-P Assembly passed the 25thAmendment of the Constitution of Pakistan – officially known as the Constitution (25th Amendment) Act – in May 2018. Under the amendment, Fata was merged with the K-P province.

Since the independence of Pakistan in 1947, the seven districts of Fata were governed by political agents who were appointed by the President of Pakistan. The political agents had near absolute power over their tribal districts.

In the wake of the amendment, the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and the Peshawar High Court (PHC) were also extended to the former Fata, whose districts are now referred to as tribal districts.