Open forum: Speakers demand equal rights for FATA

FATA the voice of 10 million people must be taken into consideration to make Fata a separate province.

PESHAWAR:

Speakers at an open forum comprising of tribal elders and lawyers declared amendments in the Frontier Crime Regulations (FCR) as academic rather than practical which would make the law more draconian.

They said the jurisdiction of the high courts and Supreme Court should be extended to the federally administered tribal areas and the rights guaranteed by the 1973 constitution should be awarded to the tribesmen in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), rather than governing the region under a regulation.

Participants said as long as corrupt practices prevail in the country, reforms cannot be implemented anywhere in Pakistan, particularly in Fata where the government’s writ is challenged.

People of North Waziristan were at the forefront in gaining independence from the British, but we have been deprived of fundamental human rights since 1947, said Malik Khan Marjan, a tribal elder from the agency.

Marjan said that the voice of 10 million people must be taken into consideration to make Fata a separate province, Qabailistan, for which a resolution has been pending in the national assembly since last year.

Criticising the role of Fata MNAs he said they do not have a plan of action for Fata and most of them take dictation from political agents before they speak about an issue concerning their region in the national assembly.

Marjan said that after the Salala check post incident which led to the martyrdom of 24 army soldiers, drone strikes were halted by the US, which have now been resumed. He demanded the government, civil society and media to campaign against them.

President Fata lawyers’ forum Ijaz Mohmand said that implementation of the political parties act is not practically implacable there due to various reasons based on the mindset of people.

He added that the Fata tribunal must be headed by a serving or retired high court or Supreme Court judge rather than a bureaucrat and expressed reservations on the present tribunal set up under the executive.

Amendments in the law drafted more than a hundred years ago is certainly a good step said chief guest Dr Qibla Ayaz. He stressed the need for establishment of more educational institutions in FATA for economic and social revival.

The forum was held by Pak-US Alumni Network Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in Lincoln’s Corner, University of Peshawar.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 15^th, 2012.